Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
DISSIDENT MARINE JAILED FOR 18 YEARS
Commando was ‘highly skilled’ Actions were ‘a threat to peace’
A FORMER Royal Marine turned dissident bomb maker was yesterday jailed for 18 years.
Ciaran Maxwell, from Larne, Co Antrim, was described in the Old Bailey as a dangerous man and “strongly committed to the cause”.
Police found 2,413 suspicious items during their investigation.
Mr Justice Sweeney said: “A skilled bomb maker is of considerable importance to a terrorist organisation like the Continuity IRA. Your actions had the potential to threaten the political stability of Northern Ireland.”
FORMER Royal Marine Ciaran Maxwell was described by a judge as a skilled bomb maker “motivated by hostility to the UK” as he jailed him for 18 years yesterday.
Maxwell, whose defence included a claim he had been paralysed with fear of republican terrorists, appeared via video link for his sentencing at the Old Bailey.
Mr Justice Nigel Sweeney ordered the 32-year-old to serve a further five years on licence after his release.
The judge said: “I’m sure you were and will remain motivated by dissident republican sympathies and a hostility to the UK.”
Maxwell had been serving with 40 Commando based at Norton Manor Camp in Taunton, Somerset, at the time of the offences.
On February 3 this year he pleaded guilty to preparation of terrorist acts between January 2011 and August 2016, possessing images of bank cards for fraud and having cannabis with intent to supply.
He also wrote a to do list identifying more than 300 targets, including police and military buildings and named individuals in Northern Ireland and the UK.
The judge added: “There was considerable planning, including attack planning, research and the acquiring of large amounts of materials, including police items for use in disguise.
“You were strongly committed to the cause. To state the obvious a skilled bomb maker is of considerable importance to a terrorist organisation like the Continuity IRA.”
Maxwell, from Larne in Co Antrim, had gathered materials to build three booby trap bombs disguised as torches which, if constructed effectively, could have been used to be detonated by a victim.
Police discovered Maxwell had made:
14 pipe bombs, four of which have been deployed in Northern Ireland
two anti-personnel directional mines
two explosively formed projectiles – one with explosive fill, one without
29 complete firing systems and 33 initiators including two military initiators
13 military Igniter Safety Fuse Electric initiators
three fully constructed improvised detonators and other component parts for improvised explosive devices, and
one handgun stored in a hide in Northern Ireland.
Defending Maxwell, Paul Hynes QC told the court his client was not ideologically driven and would not have used violence for a cause. He added it was Niall Lehd, said to be a member of the Continuity IRA, who was the “instigator” of a joint venture with Maxwell who had “no long-lasting republican ideology”.
Maxwell denied joining the Royal Marines in 2010 with the intention of infiltrating them.
The court heard he had been brought up Catholic in the largely loyalist town of Larne and had suffered a fractured skull as a 16-yearold when he was the victim of a sectarian attack.
Maxwell claimed he had faked his support for the dissidents’ cause
because he was “frozen” with fear. He said he believed old connections wished “serious ill” on him and his extended family in Northern Ireland and England.
Police discovered Maxwell had not only made bombs and detonators for live use, he had also acquired sufficient quantities of materials across Northern Ireland and England for further potentially deadly explosives.
He had stored devices, items to make more devices, ammunition,
weapons, tools and resources in 14 hides across Northern Ireland and England. Police uncovered enough components to build:
19 pipe bombs, two anti-personnel directional mines one explosively formed projectile three victim-operated torch IEDS 34 firing systems, and
76 initiators.
During their investigation into Maxwell they also recovered:
397 rounds of ammunition subject to licensing restrictions
137 blank rounds of ammunition four British Army magazines
29.27 metres of detonating cord 5.263 metres of green burning fuse, and
10 timed power units, as well as large quantities of chemicals for use in manufacturing explosives and IEDS both in England and Northern Ireland.
English police also discovered Maxwell was producing cannabis at one site which he intended to sell.
The court heard he had taken images of other people’s bank cards and identity documents and intended using them in online fraud. Mr Justice Sweeney handed Maxwell a 23-year jail term and ordered him to serve:
18 years in prison with five on licence for the preparation of terrorist acts
18 months to run concurrently for drugs offences, and
24 months to run concurrently on fraud charges.
After sentencing, PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin said: “Ciaran Maxwell is an extremely dangerous individual who was capable of gathering a large amount of munitions over multiple sites in Northern Ireland and England. The hides uncovered at Larne and surrounding areas collectively amount to one of the most significant seizures of munitions in recent years in Northern Ireland, not to mention the further items recovered in hides in Great Britain.
“It is obvious these materials and munitions were sourced, gathered and constructed over significant periods of time which demonstrates Ciaran Maxwell’s determination and committed planning.
“These items are designed to cause damage, serious injury and to kill.”