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THE EVIDENCE OF A SUPERGRASS WAS REJECTED BY AN OLD BAILEY
JURY YESTERDAY (TUES) WHEN IT ACQUITTED AN ALLEGED IRA BOMBER, WHO
HAS SPENT 16 MONTHS IN PRISON AWAITING TRIAL.
SCHOOLTEACHER THOMAS MAGUIRE, 27, WHO DENIED PLOTTING WITH
BRIGHTON BOMBER PATRICK MAGEE TO EXPLODE A CAR BOMB OUTSIDE A
SOLDIERS PUB AT BLACKPOOL, SIGHED WITH RELIEF AT THE JURY’S VERDICT.
MAGUIRE, WHO LEFT THE COURT SURROUNDED BY A GROUP OF
JUBLILANT FRIENDS AND RELATIVES SAID: ‘I WAS SET UP BY THE LANCASHIRE
SPECIAL BRANCH AND MY STEPFATHER.
I WAS INNOCENT RIGHT FROM THE
START.
IT WAS A GREAT INJUSTICE.
I HOPE THIS IS A NAIL IN THE COFFIN
FOR SUPERGRASSES.
‘
THE MAN WHO ACCUSED HIM WAS RAYMOND O’CONNOR, 50, WHO WAS
ONCE THE LOVER OF MAGUIRE’S MOTHER, MURIEL.
.
O’CONNOR WAS ALSO THE
FATHER OF A CHILD BORN TO MRS MAGUIRE.
IN ALL SHE HAS SEVEN
CHILDREN.
O’CONNOR – CALLED A PETTY CRIMINAL AND A LIAR BY THE
PROSECUTION – TOLD THE JURY HE HAD COME FORWARD ‘BECAUSE I COULD NOT
BEAR ANY LONGER WHAT WAS GOING ON.
‘
BUT MAGUIRE’S MOTHER SAID OUTSIDE THE OLD BAILEY YESTERDAY
(TUES) ‘I FEEL VERY BITTER TOWARDS O’CONNOR.
THERE ARE NO WORDS
STRONG ENOUGH TO DESCRIBE HOW I FEEL.
MRS MAGUIRE ADDED THAT SHE FELT O’CONNOR HAD ALSO LET HER
DOWN IN OTHER WAYS.
‘HIS MOTIVE IN ACCUSING MY SON WAS JUST MONEY.
HE RATHER
FANCIED HIMSELF AS A J.
R.
‘ SHE SAID SCORNFULLY.
.
,, SHE HOPED THAT HER SON WOULD RESUME HIS CAREER AS A TEACHER
IN IRELAND.
RIGHT FROM THE START OF THE TRIAL ON SEPT 16 MR ROY AMLOT,
PROSTG.
WARNED THE JURY TO BE VERY WARY OF EVERYTHING THAT O’CONNOR.
TOLD THEM.
‘HE MUST BE TREATED AS AN ACCOMPLICE BECAUSE OF HIS
PARTICIPATION IN THE PLOT FOR ALMOST A YEAR BEFORE HE WENT TO THE
POLICE,’ SAID COUNSEL
O’CONNOR AGREED THAT HE HAD BEEN INVOLVED BUT LATER DECIDED
TO SPILL THE BEANS ABOUT THE BOMB PLOT.
HE REVEALED THAT 35 YEAR OLD MAGEE, WHO HAS BEEN GIVEN
EIGHT LIFE SENTENCES FOR MURDER, WITH A MINIMUM RECOMMENDATION OF 35
YEARS, WAS TO PLANT A CAR BOMB IN BLACKPOOL.
THE TARGET WAS THE EAGLE AND CHILD INN WHICH IS THE REGULAR
HAUNT OF SOLDIERS FROM THE LIGHT INFANTRY’S SECOND BATTALION, WHICH
HAS CLOSE CONNECTIONS WITH NORTHERN IRELAND.
IF THE PLOT HAD NOT BEEN UNCOVERED, DEVASTION AND DEATH
WOULD ALMOST CERTAINLY HAVE FOLLOWED, SAID MR AMLOT.
MORE LATER
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ADD SUPERGRASS 1
O’CONNOR, NOW UNDER STRICT SECURITY GUARD, GOES AWAY FROM
THE OLD BAILEY KNOWING THAT IRA TERRORISTS HAVE PUT A PRICE ON HIS
HEAD FOR INFORMING ON MAGEE’S BOMB GANG.
AND NOW THAT MAGUIRE’S TRIAL IS OVER, IT HAS BEEN REVEALED
THAT THE BOMB OUTRAGE AT BRIGHTON COULD HAVE BEEN AVERTED.
MAGEE COULD HAVE BEEN ARRESTED MONTHS BEFORE THE TORY PARTY
WAS SO NEARLY WIPED OUT AT ITS 1984 CONFERENCE HOTEL.
THE HEAD OF LANCS.
CID, DET.
CHIEF SUPER NORMAN FINNERTY
DISCLOSED THAT PICTURES OF MAGEE AND PATRICK ‘THE POPE’
MURRAY, ANOTHER TERRORIST NOW ON THE RUN, WERE SENT TO SCOTLAND YARD
MONTHS BEFORE THE BRIGHTON BOMB EXPLODED.
THOSE PHOTOGRAPHS HAD BEEN OBTAINED AS A DIRECT RESULT OF
O’CONNOR’S INFORMATION.
A SURVEILLANCE TEAM WAS SET UP IN LANCS.
TO WATCH THE GANG MAKING ITS PREPARATIONS FOR THE BOMBING OF THE
SOLDIERS PUB.
THROUGHOUT THAT PERIOD OF SURVEILLANCE, LANCS.
POLICE HAD
THE OPPORTUNITY TO ARREST THE MEN THEY WERE WATCHING.
BUT AT THAT
STAGE THE IDENTITIES OF MAGEE AND MURRAY WERE UNKNOWN TO THEM.
IT WAS ONLY AFTER ANOTHER SET OF THE PHOTOS WAS SENT TO
SCOTLAND YARD THAT LANCS.
POLICE LEARNED WHO THEY WERE WATCHING.
BUT
THE INFORMATION CAME 15 MINUTES TOO LATE.
BY THAT TIME MURRAY AND MAGEE KNEW POLICE WERE ON THEIR
TRAIL.
THEY ESCAPED AFTER A HIGH SPEED CAR CHASE FROM BLACKPOOL TO
PRESTON.
HEAVY TRAFFIC ALLOWED THE TERRORISTS TO GET TO THE
RAILWAY STATION JUST AHEAD OF THEIR PURSUERS.
POLICE FOUND THE CORTINA CAR WITH ITS ENGINE STILL RUNNING,
ITS DOORS OPEN AND THE WINDSCREEN WIPERS WORKING.
BUT THE
PASSENGERS WERE NOWHERE TO BE SEEN.
MINUTES LATER THEY WERE TOLD THAT THE MEN THEY WERE CHASING
WERE WANTED IRA TERRORISTS.
BY SLIPPING THROUGH THAT POLICE NET MAGEE WAS ABLE TO CARRY
OUT THE FIRST PART OF HIS PLAN TO CREATE CARNAGE AND DISTRUCTION
THROUGHOUT BRITAIN.
MORE
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BTI TELEX PLUS
REF 200427 07 OCT 17:59
FROM
8951278BAILEY G
REF 19019969
FROM JOE WOOD, OLD BAILEY,
ADD SUPERGRASS 2
MAGUIRE, OF DUBLIN AND MILBOURNE ST.
, BLACKPOOL, LANCS.
, HAD
BEEN DESCRIBED BY THE PROSECUTION AS A ‘SORT OF GO BETWEEN’ IN THE
BOMB PLOT.
BUT HE HAD STRENUOUSLY DENIED ANY INVOLVEMENT.
HE TOLD POLICE THAT IT WAS RIDICULOUS TO SUGGEST THAT HE WAS
AN IRA MEMBER OR EVEN INVOLVED WITH SINN FEIN.
MAGUIRE WAS EDUCATED AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN, WHERE HE
OBTAINED A BA DEGREE.
HE LATER WAS ALSO AWARDED A HIGHER DIPLOMA IN
EDUCATION.
HE HAD MAINTAINED TO POLICE THAT IN HIS STUDENT DAYS HE TOOK
A SYMPATHETIC ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE PRISONERS ON HUNGER STRIKE IN
NORTHERN IRELAND.
HE SAID THAT THERE WAS A ‘WAVE OF SADNESS’ SWEEPING IRELAND
AT THAT TIME.
HIS CONCERN WAS A HUMANITARIAN ONE AND HE HAD CERTAINLY
NOT BEEN ANTI BRITISH.
MAGUIRE DESCRIBED HIMSELF AS ‘ONLOOKER’ ALTHOUGH HE HAD ACTED
AS A PICKET AT A FACTORY GATE DURING THE TROUBLES IN IRELAND.
ENDS
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