Marine jailed but his bombs still in hands of terrorists
Irishman motivated by ‘hostility to UK’
BOMBS made by a rogue Royal Marine are likely to be in the hands of dissident Northern Irish republican groups, police have warned.
Ciaran Maxwell, 31, of 40 Commando, was yesterday jailed for 18 years after admitting stashing arms and explosives for use by terrorist groups.
A sentencing hearing was told Maxwell had constructed 14 pipe bombs, four of them already used in attacks in Northern Ireland – three in the past year.
The serviceman, originally from Larne Co Antrim, was arrested by counterterrorism officers in August, 2016, three months after the discovery of two arms caches in woodland near the town.
He had been seen by security services visiting other arms dumps in woodland hides not far from 40 Commando’s Taunton base, in Somerset. Police found 14 pipe bombs, two anti-personnel mines, one explosively formed projectile for use against armoured vehicles, improvised explosive devices and large quantities of cannabis.
Police Service of Northern Ireland Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin said: “We are quite clear Ciaran Maxwell had a link to a violent dissident republican group in Northern Ireland.
“There is a strong likelihood items associated with Maxwell have made their way into the hands of violent dissidents and four items have been used.”
At the Old Bailey, Central London, Mr Justice Sweeney told Maxwell: “I’m sure that you were and will remain motivated by dissident republican sympathies and a hostility to the UK.”
The court had heard he grew up a Catholic and suffered a fractured skull as a 16-year-old in a sectarian attack.