A top IRA assassin was found guilty at the Old Bai

A top IRA assassin was found guilty at the Old Bailey tonight
(Mon) of murdering a British police officer and attempting to murder
three others.

Paul Magee, 46, who in 1980 was convicted of murdering a soldier
in Northern Ireland, but escaped from jail, stared straight ahead
and gripped the edge of the dock as the jury returned their verdicts
to a packed courtroom after a retirement of almost seven hours.

Magee was found guilty of murdering Special Constable Glenn
Goodman, 37, and attempting to murder PC Sandy Kelly, 33.

Magee was given two life sentences with a recommendation that
he serve a minimum of 30 years for the murder of SPc Goodman.

He got further jail sentences of 25 years and 15 years for the
second attack.

O’Brien was jailed for a total of 18 years (details to follow).

Both officers were gunned down while carrying out a routine check
on the terrorist’s car on the A64 Leeds-York Road.

He was also convicted of attempting to murder PC Alexander
Whitehouse, 25, and WPC Susan Larkin, 24, in a second shooting incident
nearby.

Michael O’Brien, 32, who drove Magee away from the scene of
both shootings, was cleared of murdering SPc Goodman and attempting
to murder PC Kelly.

But he was convicted of attempting to murder the other two
officers.

Both men were further convicted of possessing a firearm with
intent to endanger life.

SPc Goodman, who was married with a young son, was shot twice
in the chest by Magee, a trained IRA gunman.

The terrorist then pumped four bullets into the part time
officer’s colleague, PC Kelly, who suffered terrible injuries but
miraculously escaped death.

Magee decided to murder both officers in cold blood because
they did not believe the story they had been given them about their
movements that night.

After gunning them down Magee was driven away by O’Brien in
a Ford Sierra car with a police car in pursuit.

Minutes later he confronted PC Whitehouse and WPC Larkin who
took up the chase just outside the villiage of Burton Salmon.

O’Brien stopped the car and Magee got out holding a Kalashnikov
semi-automatic rifle.

During the two week trial the court heard how bullets ‘danced
on the road surface’ as Magee tried to shoot dead the two officers.

He fired nine shots at their police car but they escaped without
injury.

Magee was first convicted of firearms offences in Northern
Ireland in 1972.

In 1980 he was arrested after a siege in which terrorists
took a family hostage in Belfast.

A soldier was shot dead during
the siege.

Magee was jailed for murdering the soldier but escaped from
prison and went on the run.

He was captured later in Dublin and sentenced for his part
in the prison escape.

When he was due for release the authorities in Northern
Ireland wanted him extradited there so he could finish his sentence
for murdering the soldier.

But he was released on bail by a court in the Republic before
the extradition proceedings began and was not seen again until he
was confronted by SPc Goodman and PC Kelly on the A64.

The shooting took place in the early hours of june 7 last year.

Take in background.

ends

WETHERBY NEWS
PONTEFRACT EXP

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PA
Central News, Press Room, Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, London,
EC4.

Tel: 071 236 0116
Old Bailey/cg
30.

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