The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Widow ‘disgusted’ at sentence
THE WIDOW of murdered police officer PC Stephen Carroll has spoken of her “disgust” at the jail term handed to one of the killer gang.
John Paul Wootton (21) drove the getaway car and was sentenced to 14 years minimum by Lord Justice Paul Girvan, nine fewer than the man whose coat may have been wrapped around the murder weapon, Brendan Mcconville (41).
PC Carroll (48) was shot dead by the Continuity IRA in Craigavon, County Armagh, in March 2009.
Outside Belfast Crown Court PC Carroll’s widow, Kate, said of Wootton’s sentence: “I am actually disgusted, the full intent was there, he has shown no remorse.”
She added: “It gives the message out that it is fine to kill a policeman here because you get a small rap on the knuckles whereas in England you get the full term.
“Justice has been done? Not for us it has not. Stephen is still in his grave.”
The judge said there must be some allowance for the fact that Wootton, aged 17 at the time, played a more limited role than Mcconville.
He said: “The killing comes at a time when terrorist activity has thankfully substantially decreased and it has been wholly rejected, as demonstrated by the will of the people.
“Any terrorist who continues to activate that terrorism at this point in time must be deterred from continuing in that course and any sentence must reflect that need for deterrence.”
The murdered officer’s widow was with family members in court as minimum tariffs before the life sentences could be reviewed were decided.
A victim impact statement from Mrs Carroll said: “I feel that I have not only had my soul mate, best friend and future taken away from me, but I did not even get a chance to say goodbye properly.
“Stephen was my life and religion and losing him was heartbreaking, gutwrenching.”
PC Carroll, from Banbridge, County Down, was the first policeman killed by republican terrorists since the peace process reforms that saw the Royal Ulster Constabulary replaced by the new-look Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Lawyers for Mcconville, of Aldervale, Tullygally in Craigavon, and Wootton, of Collingdale, Lurgan, County Armagh, had presented mitigating factors to the judge.
Wootton’s mother, Sharon, who sat in the dock beside her son and Mcconville, was handed a 12-month suspended sentence for removing computers linked to her son from their home.
PC Carroll was killed two days after two British soldiers were murdered in a Real IRA gun attack outside their barracks in Antrim.
He died of a single gunshot wound to the head as he sat in an unmarked police car while colleagues attended a 999 call in the Lismore Manor area.
Motorists are advised to avoid the area of Drumbeg in Craigavon, close to where the two defendants lived, following reports of a vehicle being hijacked.