Paul Magee

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Paul "Dingus" Magee (born 30 January 1948) is a former

repatriated to the Republic of Ireland as part of the Northern Ireland peace process before being released from prison in 1999, and subsequently avoided extradition
back to Northern Ireland to serve his sentence for killing the member of the SAS.

Background and early IRA activity

Magee was born in the

transit van, while the other three IRA members remained inside the house.[9] More members of the security forces were deployed to the scene, and after a brief siege the remaining members of the IRA unit surrendered.[6]

1981 trial and escape

The trial of Magee and the other members of the M60 gang began in early May 1981, with them facing charges including three counts of murder.

Crumlin Road Jail. After locking the officer in a cell, the eight took other officers and visiting solicitors hostage, also locking them in cells after taking their clothing.[10][11] Two of the eight wore officer's uniforms while a third wore clothing taken from a solicitor, and the group moved towards the first of three gates separating them from the outside world.[11] They took the officer on duty at the gate hostage at gunpoint, and forced him to open the inner gate.[11] An officer at the second gate recognised one of the prisoners and ran into an office and pressed an alarm button, and the prisoners ran through the second gate towards the outer gate.[10][11] An officer at the outer gate tried to prevent the escape but was attacked by the prisoners, who escaped onto Crumlin Road.[10] As the prisoners were moving towards the car park where two cars were waiting, an unmarked RUC car pulled up across the street outside Crumlin Road Courthouse. The RUC officers opened fire, and the prisoners returned fire before escaping in the waiting cars.[10] Two days after the escape, Magee was convicted in absentia and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum recommended term of thirty years.[12]

Imprisonment in the Republic of Ireland

Magee escaped across the border into the Republic of Ireland. Eleven days after the escape he appeared in public at the

Bodenstown, County Kildare, where troops from the Irish Army and the Garda's Special Branch attempted to arrest him, but failed after the crowd threw missiles and lay down in the road blocking access.[10] He was arrested in January 1982 along with Angelo Fusco, and sentenced to ten years imprisonment for the escape under extra-jurisdictional legislation.[2] Shortly before his release from prison in 1989 Magee was served with an extradition warrant, and he started a legal battle to avoid being returned to Northern Ireland.[2][13] In October 1991 the Supreme Court in Dublin ordered his return to Northern Ireland to serve his sentence for the murder of Captain Westmacott, but Magee had jumped bail and a warrant was issued for his arrest.[12]

IRA activity in England

Magee fled to England, where he was part of an IRA active service unit.

Special Constable Glenn Goodman - who died later in hospital - and then shot the other officer, PC Kelly, four times.[14] PC Kelly escaped death when a fifth bullet ricocheted off the radio he was holding to his ear, and the IRA members drove away.[14] Another police car began to follow the pair, and came under fire near Burton Salmon.[14] The lives of the officers in the car were in danger, but Magee and O'Brien fled the scene after a member of the public arrived.[14] A manhunt was launched, and hundreds of police officers, many of them armed, searched woods and farmland.[14] Magee and O'Brien evaded capture for four days by hiding in a culvert, before they were both arrested in separate police operations in the town of Pontefract.[14]

Imprisonment in England

On 31 March 1993 Magee was found guilty of the murder of Special Constable Goodman and the attempted murder of three other police officers, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

HM Prison Belmarsh, in protest at glass screens separating prisoners from their relatives during visits.[20] Magee had refused to accept visits from his wife and five children for two years, prompting Sinn Féin to accuse the British government of maintaining "a worsening regime that is damaging physically and psychologically".[20]

In January 1997 Magee and the other five escapees from Whitemoor were on trial on charges relating to the escape for a second time, four months earlier the first trial had been stopped because of prejudicial publicity.[21] Lawyers for the defendants successfully argued that an article in the Evening Standard prejudiced the trial as it contained photographs of Magee and two other defendants and described them as "terrorists", as an order had been made at the start of the trial preventing any reference to the background and previous convictions of the defendants.[21] Despite the judge saying the evidence against the defendants was "very strong", he dismissed the case stating: "What I have done is the only thing I can do in the circumstances. The law for these defendants is the same law for everyone else. They are entitled to that, whatever they have done".[21]

Extradition battle

On 5 May 1998 Magee was repatriated to the Republic of Ireland to serve the remainder of his sentence in

Royal Prerogative of Mercy which allowed them to return to Northern Ireland without fear of prosecution.[27]

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-09-175306-1
    .
  2. ^ a b c John Mullin (9 March 2000). "Sinn Féin fury as Irish police arrest IRA man who killed SAS officer". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
  3. ^ "The Burning of Long Kesh". An Phoblacht. 14 October 2004. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
  4. ^ "Angelo Fusco's long fight with the law". BBC. 6 January 2000. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
  5. ^ "Portlaoise prisoners to be moved to bungalows". Irish Examiner. 3 December 1999. Archived from the original on 22 June 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-1-56000-901-6
    . Retrieved 25 April 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-1-85635-437-0
    .
  8. ^ "High Court blocks Fusco handover". RTÉ.ie. 4 January 2000. Archived from the original on 26 December 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
  9. ^ Killer in Clowntown: Joe Doherty, the IRA and the Special Relationship, p. 94.
  10. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7453-1509-6
    .
  11. ^
    ISBN 978-0-87113-702-9
    .
  12. ^ a b c John Mullin (10 March 2000). "Dublin court bails IRA man wanted for murdering SAS officer 20 years ago". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
  13. ^ Caroline Davies (5 January 2000). "Death is an evil. But at the time I saw it as a necessary evil, says IRA killer". The Daily Telegraph.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i Chris Titley (4 April 2005). "Earlier manhunts that shocked us all". Evening Press. Archived from the original on 12 June 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
  15. ^ "Police killer". Evening Press. 1 June 2000. Archived from the original on 29 August 2012.
  16. ISBN 978-0-395-65237-4
    .
  17. ^ a b "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 19 Dec 1994". House of Commons. 19 December 1994. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
  18. ^ Heather Mills (23 December 1994). "Whitemoor escapers sue". The Independent.
  19. ^ a b "Inquiry over helicopter escape-plot at Whitemoor inquiry at Whitemoor". The Independent. 23 March 1998. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  20. ^ a b Jack O'Sullivan (18 October 1996). "The prisoners who matter". The Independent. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  21. ^ a b c Terence Shaw (24 January 1997). "The jail-break trial that got away". The Daily Telegraph.
  22. ^ "Six more POWS transferred". An Phoblacht. 7 May 1998. Archived from the original on 20 October 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
  23. ^ Brian Carroll (6 May 1998). "Balcombe Street gang moved to Portlaoise". The Irish News. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
  24. ^ a b "IRA killer freed on bail". BBC. 9 March 2000. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
  25. ^ "Second arrest for murder of SAS officer 20 years ago". RTÉ.ie. 8 March 2000. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
  26. ^ a b "Escapees not to be extradited to North". Irish Examiner. 8 November 2000. Archived from the original on 22 June 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
  27. ^ Louise McCall (28 December 2000). "Unionist anger as IRA escapees are allowed home". Irish Independent. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Magee&oldid=1224822297"