Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
7 years for storing dissident Semtex at parents’ house
Court told man, 47, felt pressured to hide haul
A MAN was yesterday handed a seven-year sentence for storing Semtex, guns and bullets for dissident republicans in his parents’ home.
Almost two years after 651 grams of the explosive substance was found at the house Kevin Nolan was jailed for terrorist offences at Belfast Crown Court. Passing sentence, Judge Gordon Kerr said the amount of Semtex could have been used to create a “large and destructive device”. But he accepted the 47-year-old had been “passively storing the items for potential future use” by others. Nolan, from Stewartstown Road, West Belfast, will serve half his sentence in prison with the remainder on supervised licence. His name will also appear on the antiterrorist list for 15 years. Despite initially denying all the offences and claiming he found a bag containing what he thought was drugs and money in the City Cemetery, Nolan now admits when he worked in a taxi company he was approached and asked to keep the items. The Semtex was discovered in a house in Ballymurphy in West Belfast, along with two guns, detonators and assorted ammunition during a police search on September 17, 2015. Among the items was a holdall containing a Baikai gas pistol and revolver, over 300 bullets and Semtex which was wrapped in cling film. Also found were two improvised detonators, and when a second bedroom was searched a black balaclava was located along with a large plastic tub containing more rounds of ammunition.
PROTECT
JUDGE GORDON KERR BELFAST YESTERDAY
Nolan was arrested at his partner’s home in Sunderland a few days after the discovery and was brought back to Antrim Serious Crime Suite for questioning. At a previous hearing Nolan admitted possessing the firearms, a Baikai gas pistol and revolver, as well as a variety of bullets, between May 1 and September 18, 2015, in suspicious circumstances. Yesterday his barrister Eilish Mcdermott asked he be re-arraigned on several charges he initially denied. When they were put to him again – including possessing 651 grams of the commercial explosives and two improvised electric detonators, both with intent to endanger life, as well as having a black balaclava for use in terrorism – Nolan replied “guilty”. The pleas were entered on the grounds Nolan never intended to use any of the items found, but rather he was facilitating the future use by others by storing them. Ms Mcdermott revealed after being approached by others to store the haul Nolan felt under pressure from them. Pointing out he moved to his partner’s home in Sunderland not long after receiving the items and was making plans to secure work, Ms Mcdermott said it was always his intention to protect his family and make sure his parents didn’t suffer for his actions. The barrister revealed that while on remand for the offences Nolan never asked to be moved to the republican wing and was housed among the general prison population. Ms Mcdermott added her client came before the court with no criminal record and when released from prison it is his intention to move away from Northern Ireland.