A terminally-ill man must serve a minimum of 25 years in jail for the murders of two soldiers shot dead by dissident republicans in Northern Ireland, a judge ruled today.
Brian Shivers (46) from Magherafelt, Co Derry, who was part of the Real IRA gang that murdered Sappers Patrick Azimkar (21) and Mark Quinsey (23) outside Massereene military barracks, is suffering from cystic fibrosis and has an estimated four to five years to live.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment last month and today at Belfast Crown Court Mr Justice Anthony Hart told him he would have to spend at least 25 years in prison before he could be considered for release.
Sapper Quinsey, from Birmingham, and Sapper Azimkar, from London, both serving with 38 Engineer Regiment, were about to leave for a tour in Afghanistan in March 2009 when they were gunned down by republican assassins.
"I am satisfied that appropriate arrangements are being put in place to provide the necessary medical care which Shivers will require in the future," the judge said. “Those involved in this very grave crime must receive appropriate punishment.”
He said Shivers was deemed to be a secondary party to the killings, responsible for trying to burn out the getaway car.
But he added: “Whilst he played a lesser role than the gunmen and the driver of the attack car, by being at Ranaghan Road and setting fire to the car, he played a prominent and essential role in this carefully-planned and ruthlessly-executed crime.”
The judge quoted from victim impact statements presented to the court by the families of the murdered soldiers.
Sapper Mark Quinsey’s mother Pamela said: “A mother thinks she will hold her child’s hand for the rest of her life. Now my hand is empty and lost.”
Murdered soldier Patrick Azimkar’s mother Geraldine said: “We have all changed, all aged, our hearts and souls are no longer light but weighed down with sorrow and loss.”
Sapper Quinsey, from Birmingham, and Sapper Azimkar, from London, were dressed in their desert fatigues and were within hours of leaving the base for the tour of Afghanistan. They were collecting pizzas at the front gate when they came under fire. Two other soldiers and two pizza delivery drivers were injured in the gun attack.
Shivers’ co-accused, high-profile republican Colin Duffy (44) from Lurgan, Co Armagh, was acquitted of the murder charges in the non-jury trial at Antrim Crown Court.
At a pre-tariff hearing last week, a prosecution lawyer urged Mr Justice Hart to impose a term at the higher end of the scale, insisting there were many aggravating factors, including the fact that the murders were politically-motivated acts of terrorism.
DNA on matchsticks found in the partially burnt-out Vauxhall Cavalier getaway car used in the ambush and abandoned eight miles away proved Shivers’ undoing at his trial.
Delivering his reserved judgment in January after a six-week trial, Mr Justice Hart said he was satisfied that he had tried to set the car alight.
The judge has noted that the Crown accepted that Shivers was a secondary party to the murders, but at the pre-tariff hearing he said that would not have a significant influence on the length of term he imposed.
PA