Twin brothers were given lengthy jail sentences by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday for having a "state of the art" "Real IRA" bomb-making factory.
Alan Patterson was jailed for nine years and his brother Kenneth for seven years. The sentences were ordered to run from their arrest on June 9th last.
Mr Justice Richard Johnson, presiding, said they had been in possession of a "state of the art, up-to- the-minute bomb-making factory with the latest developments in time and power units."
Security sources said after the sentences were imposed that similar time and power units had been used on 41 occasions since they were first used in a bomb found at Hackballscross, near the Border, in the spring of 1998.
They have also been used in all the "Real IRA" bombs that have exploded in Britain, including the explosion earlier this year at the BBC in London, the sources added.
The 31-year-old twins, Kenneth Patterson, a former Irish soldier, and Alan Patterson, both of Griffith Parade, Finglas, Dublin, pleaded guilty last Friday to the unlawful possession of explosive substances in Dublin and at or near McEntee Avenue, Dundalk, on June 9th, 2001.
Alan Patterson also pleaded guilty to additional charges of unlawful possession of three-quarters of a kg of Semtex explosive, an air pistol and a quantity of ammunition at Marmion Court, Dublin, on the same date.
The Pattersons were arrested during a Garda surveillance operation against the "Real IRA", and in particular into its bomb-making capacity, the court was told. The court heard that Kenneth Patterson, a separated father of three, served as an Irish Army private from 1990 until August 2000. He had a "favourable" Army record. At the time of his arrest he was a general worker in a plastics mouldings plant.
Alan Patterson, a separated father of two, was working as a warehouseman in Dublin when he was arrested. He made statements admitting responsibility for the material found at Marmion Court and Dundalk. The court heard that Kenneth Patterson made statements accepting responsibility for items found at Griffith Parade and Dundalk.