Top IRA bomber James Canning was branded a ‘menace

Top IRA bomber James Canning was branded a ‘menace to the public’
and jailed for 30 years by Mr Justice John Leonard QC at the Old
Bailey today Wednesday.

The woman he so cruelly used as a cover for his activities, Audrey
Lamb, 60, sobbed as she was jailed for three years for supporting
his terrorist campaign.

Canning spun on his heel, showed no emotion and merely scratched
his dark moustache as he hurried to the cells below the courtroom.

His lover burst into tears and as she was pulled from the dock by
two prison officers she kept repeating: ‘What’s it all about?
What’s happened?’
‘Never mind that get down those stairs,’ said one woman
officer sternly.

The judge said Canning was a dedicated terrorist who, by using
Lamb’s home as a bomb factory, had preyed on the vulnerability
of a lonely woman.

He told Canning: ‘You are a dangerous man committed to achieving
the ends of a terrorist organisation by violent means.

You
played an important and sustained part in a bombing campaign
in this country.

‘You were a keeper and provider of Semtex and other
explosive devices for others to use.

‘
The judge described Canning as the IRA’s ‘quartermaster’ in
Britain.

He told him: ‘You are in short a menace.

You could have
caused indirectly or directly very serious harm and death.

‘The most serious aspect is the danger to people and
its consequences not only for them but for their relatives.

‘
Lamb, who was led into terrorism through her desperate search
for love, will live in fear for the rest of her life after giving
police information about the IRA, the court heard.

Mr Justice Leonard said to her: ‘It is quite obvious this
trial has been a considerable strain on you and your distress and
perhaps fear have been manifest in this court.

‘You were content to allow Canning to use your home after you
knew what he was up to.

You knew he was a terrorist.

‘
The judge said that life had treated her ‘very harshly’ adding
that she had been deserted by a previous man with whom she had
lived for more than 20 years.

‘This made you vulnerable to the approaches of Canning and
I accept that in that condition, no doubt made worse by the
fact that you had suffered illness, it must have been a
considerable relief to you and perhaps a joy that this
younger man came along and was prepared to be with you.

‘No doubt it was difficult for you to take the appropriate
action when you knew what he was up to and there was also the
element of fear which I have already referred to.

‘
The judge said that he had a lot of material in front of
him which showed her ‘genuine contrition’ for what she did, even
though she had acted wrongly.

He pointed out that she had already spent more than 10
months on remand in Brixton Prison.

That amount of time will reduce the sentence she serves, he
added.

Canning was found guilty of conspiring to cause explosions,
possessing Semtex and possessing six Kalashnikov rifles and
possessing a loaded revolver with intent to endanger life.

He was cleared of causing an explosion in Bridle Lane, Soho
in April last year three days before the General Election.

Lamb was found guilty of possessing at least two of the rifles
and of providing money and possessions for Canning to use in
acts of terrorism.

She was acquitted of conspiracy to cause explosions and possession
of semtex.

The jury of 10 men and two women returned their verdicts to
a packed courtroom after spending a night at an hotel at the end
of a trial which has lasted a month.

Miss Helena Kennedy, QC, defending Canning, said he had
instructed her not to put forward any mitigation on his behalf.

Miss Ann Curnow, QC, defending Lamb, said she was terrified
of reprisals after breaching the IRA’s code of silence.

‘That fear is going to be with her for the remainder of her
life.

As a result of her fatal association with this man Canning
she was reduced to an extraordinarily vulnerable state,’ Miss
Curnow added.

She told the judge:’She has let herself be exploited
financially, sexually, and emotionally and is now very ashamed
of her relationship with Canning.

She is a pathetic, lonely figure,
the victim of violence, who is terrified of the future.

‘
Lamb has lost everything as a result of her conviction,
the court heard.

The bungalow she shared with Canning in Islip Gardens,
Northolt, Middx, must now be sold.

When she met Canning Lamb was on the rebound from a 22
year relationship with businessman Andrew Masters.

She had run a greengrocer’s shop with him and when they
split up she received 20,000 pounds from the business.

Miss Curnow said that by the time of her arrest she was left
with just 10,000 pounds and 7,000 of that had been spent on
legal fees.

Canning, the court heard, used her home as a base
for a devastasting terror campaign in the run up to the General
Election in April last year.

He was a quartermaster and paymaster for the IRA who was
in regular contact with other terrorists.

Police found a massive cache of arms and explosives,
including 38.

2 kg of semtex, in a lock-up garage used by Canning.

The convictions of Canning and Lamb are the first in an
Old Bailey IRA trial since the freeing of the Birmingham Six and
the Guildford Four.

Three other IRA trials in the previous year have
ended with acquittals.

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