Short walk to freedom for the last of Maze inmates

Sean Kelly

Sean Kelly

Sean Kelly was wearing pyjamas when he appeared at a special court in Musgrave Park Hospital, charged with the Shankill bombing. Ten people were killed in the explosion in October 1993 - nine Protestants and the other bomber, Thomas Begley.

Kelly himself sustained serious injuries. He lost his left eye. The Shankill Road was teeming with shoppers, mainly women and children, on a Saturday afternoon when the two IRA men approached Frizzell's fish shop with a five-pound bomb inside a box, which they intended to place on a refrigerator.

They were disguised as fish delivery men, in white coats and hats. UDA headquarters were located above the fish shop and the paramilitary group's inner council, including Johnny Adair, met there on Saturdays.

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The bomb is understood to have been fitted with a timer delay to give the bombers around 11 seconds to escape. It exploded prematurely. Begley is believed to have been leaning over the device when it went off; Kelly was standing in the shop doorway.

There were horrific scenes on the Shankill after the explosion as people tried to dig through the rubble, searching for the dead and dying. Begley (23) was blown to pieces. His remains were carried away in two body bags. Kelly was thrown into the middle of the road and buried under the rubble. A man who rescued him, not knowing he was one of the bombers, noted how despite the severity of his injuries, he was desperately trying to get up.

Still conscious, he was taken to hospital. On the next trolley was one of the bomb victims who died hours later. His burnt, blood-stained clothing became vital evidence.

Two notes Kelly is said to have given his parents and a nurse in hospital were found in a litter bin. One said: "I will do my time in Long Kesh". The second read: "I will get time - 20 years".

Kelly refused to stand for the judge and would not recognise the court during his trial in 1995. "As a republican, I refuse to recognise this Diplock court. This system is corrupt," he said.

He also declined to give evidence in his defence. This saved the Provisional IRA leadership in Belfast considerable embarrassment. A slightly built figure with spectacles and a moustache, Kelly showed no remorse or emotion during the trial.

He was given nine life sentences. He said something in Irish as he was being led from the court. "I hope you die in jail you bastard," one of the bereaved shouted. Kelly (26) from Brompton Park in Ardoyne was lifelong friends with Begley.

Michelle Williamson, whose parents died in the Shankill bomb, mounted an unsuccessful legal challenge to prevent Kelly's release. He has served almost eight years. He was beaten up by loyalists in the Maze and is a hated figure on the Shankill. One mural shows the Grim Reaper hovering over three gravestones - on one is the name of Sean Kelly.

Torrens Knight

Torrens Knight laughed at his victims' relatives as he sat in court during the trial for the Hallowe'en gun attack on the Rising Sun Bar in Greysteel, Co Derry, seven years ago.

Seven people were killed when UDA gunmen sprayed the premises with bullets. A 79-year-old man wounded in the attack died six months later. It was claimed the shooting was in retaliation for the IRA's Shankill Road bombing a week earlier.

Two masked gunmen, armed with an AK47 rifle and a Browning automatic pistol, entered the bar where a country-and-western night was taking place. They shouted "trick or treat". Customers thought it was a sick Hallowe'en joke until the shooting started.

The gunmen sprayed a group of women who were out on a hen night, then turned their attention to the dance floor. At least 45 shots were fired. Greysteel is a mainly Catholic village but Protestants also drank in the pub and former UDR soldier John Burns was among the victims.

The oldest person killed in the attack was James Moore (81); the youngest was Karen Thompson (19). Knight stood guard on the door with a sawn-off shot-gun during the attack. He drove off separately in a car which he tried to burn. But he bungled the attempt, leaving the vehicle covered in vital forensic evidence.

Knight (30), a roofer from Coleraine, Co Derry, was sentenced to life for the Greysteel shooting in 1995. He was also convicted of the murder of four Catholic workers, shot dead at their van, in the seaside village of Castlerock seven months earlier.

While in the Maze, he switched allegiance to the Loyalist Volunteer Force but requested a transfer back to the UDA when it appeared at first that only UDA and UVF prisoners would be eligible for early release under the Belfast agreement. His request was refused but LVF inmates later became eligible too. Those who have met him describe him as "chilling".

Norman Coopey

Norman Coopey was jailed for life just 18 months ago for one of the most brutal murders in the recent history of the Troubles. James Morgan (16), a Catholic schoolboy from Annesborough, Co Down, was abducted as he hitch-hiked home in July 1997. He had just sat his GCSEs.

Coopey and an accomplice tortured James, bludgeoned him to death with a hammer, and then doused him with petrol and set fire to his body. They dumped their victim in a pit full of decomposing animal carcasses on farmland at Clough, a few miles from his home.

James's family waited several days for him to come home. Eventually they heard a body had been found locally. The schoolboy could be identified only through dental records.

Coopey (29), from Newcastle, has an IQ of only 74. It is understood he was not a member of any paramilitary group at the time of the murder. He was beaten up in one wing in the Maze but was later accepted onto the LVF block. He watched from his cell as an INLA gunman shot dead LVF leader, Billy Wright, in December 1997. The Morgan family have said it is disgraceful Coopey is being released so soon after his conviction. They also opposed a decision to grant him temporary release three times in two months last year. On one occasion, he was freed to attend his sister's wedding.

Glen Cunningham

He was jailed for 25 years for attempting to murder a Catholic in Glengormley, north Belfast, who went into his garden to investigate noises in March 1992. Cunningham was identified and arrested a year later by a broken tooth found in the getaway car. The UDA was responsible for the attack.

Cunningham (32) is from the Tynedale area of Belfast. He was a key member of the UDA prisoners' delegation which met the then Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, in the Maze in 1998. After the meeting, they decided to retain their support for the talks process. Cunningham had been in favour of withdrawal before the meeting.

Michael Caraher

Michael Caraher (32) is believed to have killed at least seven members of the security forces in south Armagh. He was part of the most feared IRA unit in the North. He will have served just three years of sentences totalling 105 years when he is released tomorrow.

He was a member of the IRA sniper team which shot dead lance bombardier Stephen Restorick at a British Army checkpoint in Bessbrook in 1997. He was the last British soldier to be killed in the Troubles.

Caraher, along with Bernard McGinn, James McArdle, and Martin "Stove" Mines formed the nucleus of an IRA sniper team. The four were caught in a huge security operation in April 1997 when 16 undercover British soldiers raided a farm near Crossmaglen.

They seized a Barrett Light 50 rifle - one of the most powerful weapons used by the IRA and capable of firing a bullet at nearly three times' the speed of sound. Soldiers often thought they had heard an explosion when a shot had been fired.

Caraher wore ear protectors to prevent perforation to his eardrums when he shot a victim. The weapon is believed to have been used in up to two dozen attacks. The men were preparing to shoot a British soldier in south Armagh when they were discovered.

A car adopted to protect the sniper team by means of a foldaway steel plate in the boot was also seized. Caraher, from Cullyhanna, is from one of the best-known republican families in the area. His father, Peter John, is a prominent local figure; his uncle Owen was imprisoned during the Border campaign; his sister Maria is a Sinn Fein representative.

Caraher lost a lung in 1990 when two Royal Marines opened fire on a car in which he was travelling. His brother Fergal was killed in the incident.

Bernard McGinn

Unlike the other members of the IRA team, Bernard McGinn (42) is from Castleblaney, Co Monaghan. He joined the IRA at 15, killing former UDR soldier Gilbert Johnston three years later in Keady, Co Armagh, as he bought crisps and ice-cream.

Following release from jail in the Republic in 1987, after serving 10 years for possession of explosives, he decided his local IRA unit was "no good" and applied to join the South Armagh Brigade, considered to be the IRA's elite. When he was arrested 10 years later in the farm in Crossmaglen - along with Caraher, McArdle, and Mines - the RUC were unable to identify him immediately.

After remaining silent for almost three days, he is understood to have cracked when told he would be in prison for so long he would miss seeing his seven-yearold son growing up. "Make me an offer I can't refuse," he is said to have told police.

He then said he could stop "another Canary Wharf" and is understood to have passed on vital information to the security forces. He implicated both Caraher and McArdle and admitted making the Baltic Exchange bomb which killed three people and devastated the City of London in 1992.

He also admitted involvement in the Docklands bomb in 1996 which ended the IRA ceasefire and in which two people died. Making a bomb was "like a day's work", he is reported to have said. He was found guilty of murdering lance bombardier Restorick in 1997. He was sentenced to a total of 435 years and three life terms for involvement in a variety of attacks.

James McArdle

McArdle (32), from Crossmaglen, was sentenced to 25 years for his part in the Docklands explosion. He was found guilty of driving the bomb from south Armagh to London. He claimed he was ignorant of its destination. He was also a member of the IRA team that killed lance bombardier Restorick. He has served three years.

Martin Mines

Mines (31), from Silverbridge, was the fourth member of the IRA team captured in Crossmaglen. He was sentenced to 50 years for conspiracy to murder and arms possession. He laughed as he left the court in March 1999, waving at his supporters in the public gallery and shouting, "See you in 18 months," in reference to his early release under the Belfast agreement.