Three charged following searches

23 June, 2006
BBC News

Three people have been remanded in custody following searches earlier this week by police in Armagh and Fermanagh. Police said at the time they believed they had stopped an international gun smuggling operation. Desmond Kearns, 41, and his wife Alison Patricia Kearns, 37, from Tannaghmore Green, Lurgan, were charged in a Belfast court with procuring weapons. Michael Dermot Gregory, 37, of Concession Road, Crossmaglen, was charged with making assets available.

Continue Reading... Labels: Alison Kearns, Alvor, Dermot Declan Gregory, Dermot Gregory, Desmond Kearns, Desmond Paul Kearns, MI5, Michael Dermot, Portugal, Real IRA

Three charged in Belfast over weapons plot

23 June 2006
Reuters News Belfast

Three people including a husband and wife appeared in a Belfast court on Friday charged with a string of terrorist offences following a police operation earlier this week against dissident Irish republicans. The three were among 10 people detained on Monday after some 200 police officers backed by the British Army carried out raids in Counties Armagh and Fermanagh, disrupting what police described as "a potential major terrorist conspiracy".

Continue Reading... Labels: Alison Kearns, Alvor, Dermot Declan Gregory, Dermot Gregory, Desmond Kearns, Desmond Paul Kearns, MI5, Michael Dermot, Portugal, Real IRA

Dissidents arrested

23 June 2006
Associated Press - Belfast

Three suspected Irish Republican Army dissidents, including a husband and wife, were arraigned Friday on charges of trying to smuggle weapons into Northern Ireland. Desmond Kearns, 41, his wife Alison Kearns, 37, and Michael Gregory, 37, were ordered held without bail until their next court appearance July 28. Detective

Chief Inspector Neil Graham, a police officer who interrogated them following their arrest Monday, testified that all three were suspected of trying to smuggle a vast array of weaponry via Portugal and France into Northern Ireland.

Continue Reading... Labels: Alison Kearns, Alvor, Desmond Kearns, Desmond Paul Kearns, MI5, Portugal, Real IRA

Derry Dissident Deported from U.S.

23 Nov 2005
Irish Voice
Sean O'Driscoll

A Derry dissident Republican has been deported from the U.S. after refusing an FBI and British intelligence offer to become an informer in exchange for a new house in Portugal and large cash payments. Sean Devine, who has fundraised for dissident Republican prisoners, was recently questioned at Newark Airport for over six hours by a five man team lead by the FBI, the Northern Ireland Special Branch and the British Intelligence organization, MI5.

Continue Reading... Labels: Alvor, Informer, MI5, Portugal, Real IRA

Dungiven Man ‘Disgusted’ At US Arrest

11 Nov 2005
Derry Journal


A Dungiven man has said he is ‘totally disgusted’ at the way he was treated after he was stopped entering the United States last week and pressurised into becoming an informer for the PSNI. The man, Sean Devine, also said he is deeply perturbed at the extent of the surveillance he must have been kept under in order for the security services to know so much about him. Mr. Devine said that he had been involved in work for republican prisoners in Maghaberry but had never been before a court on any sort of charges. He told the Journal what happened:

Continue Reading... Labels: Informer, MI5, Portugal, Real IRA

Deportee's Real IRA Links

30 Nov 2005
Irish Voice
Sean O'Driscoll


A Derry man who was deported from the U.S. earlier this month is a fundraiser for a Republican prisoner welfare group which the U.S. government considers a front for the Real IRA, the Justice Department has confirmed. Sean Devine, from Dungiven in Co. Derry, told the Irish Voice last week that he was offered a new home in Portugal if he became an informer for MI5 and the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Continue Reading... Labels: Alvor, Informer, MI5, Portugal, Real IRA

Face of 'Omagh bomber'

14 September 2003
The News of the World
Martin Breen

THIS is the first picture of the man charged with helping build the bomb used in the Omagh massacre. Our exclusive shot of alleged Real IRA bomb-maker Sean Hoey was captured by undercover reporters. The unemployed electrician, 34, appeared in court last weekend in connection with 14 bombings, including Omagh, which claimed 29 lives. Hoey, who denies all the charges, covered himself with a blanket as he entered and left the building. But we have obtained previously unpublished footage recorded by an undercover BBC Panorama team for their award-winning documentary Who Bombed Omagh?

Continue Reading... Labels: Colm Murphy, MI5, Omagh, Real IRA

Omagh bombers - early article

Now make the Omagh bombers face justice;
As republican terrorist is found guilty over the outrage that killed 29
MICHAEL SEAMARK; BEN TAYLOR
23 January 2002
Daily Mail

The 'prime suspects'

THESE men were named as prime suspects by BBC1's Panorama in October 2000:

Continue Reading... Labels: Colm Murphy, MI5, Omagh, Real IRA

Phone clue to Omagh bomb gang found.

28 February 1999
The Sunday Times
Maeve Sheehan

Police investigating the Omagh bomb atrocity are closing in on the leaders of the Real IRA after the discovery of two mobile phones that they suspect were used by those planning the blast. Police in the republic now believe a series of calls made minutes before the explosion, which killed 29 people and injured almost 300, could be vital evidence. Disclosure of the possible breakthrough coincided with yesterday's arrest of Kevin Murray, 45, from Dundalk.

Continue Reading... Labels: Colm Murphy, MI5, Omagh, Real IRA

A gong for the secret detective

31 December 1998
Manchester Evening News
Steve Panter


A TOP-SECRET detective who risked his life time after time in the line of duty has been honoured for his courage. The master of deep infiltration of major crime rings becomes an OBE today. Henri Exton headed Greater Manchester Police undercover unit before he retired five years ago. The former detective chief inspector has continued in his specialist field and is now with the Ministry of Defence. His work while he was in Manchester varied from penetrating notorious soccer gangs to uncovering evidence which proved a convicted killer innocent.

Mr Exton was later "loaned out" by GMP to other forces and on one such mission was held hostage by a gang he inflitrated in the south of England - but retained his cover. His early successes in Greater Manchester in the 1970s and 80s involved uncovering organised crime rings and recruiting supergrasses.

He was heavily involved in the huge armed robbery inquiry Operation Belgium, so-called because of his Belgian family background. He became a trusted "member" of notorious 1970s soccer gang the Young Guvnors who followed Manchester City and caused serious violence across the country. In fact he became a leader of the Guvnors and had to take part in some organised incidents to preserve his cover. He even had to endure a beating in a cell in Wales inflicted by police officers who were convinced he was a soccer thug.

In Italy, during the 1990 World Cup, he wore an Italian policeman's uniform then switched sides to pose as a football hooligan. One triumph was pretending to be a drugs buyer. His role was so sensitive that, when he was awarded the Queen's Police Medal for outstanding skills and bravery, it was kept secret.

Two other officers have been awarded the Queen's Police Medal for their services in Greater Manchester. Chief Supt Andrew Glaister, who retired last March after 35 years as an officer in Manchester, was head of GMP's C division. The other officer honoured today cannot be named.

Continue Reading... Labels: Informer