Conditional discharge for man who supplied car to dissident republican bombers

A man previously convicted of providing a getaway car used by dissident republican bombers has been conditionally discharged for failing to notify police about a change of address.
By The Newsroom
Published 25th Jul 2019, 18:51 BST
Ciaran Anthoney Farrell arriving at Newry court in 2010. Pic Colm Lenaghan/PacemakerCiaran Anthoney Farrell arriving at Newry court in 2010. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker
Ciaran Anthoney Farrell arriving at Newry court in 2010. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

Ciaran Anthony Farrell, 60, is subject to a requirement that he must provide details on his living arrangements.

The condition was imposed after he received a suspended prison sentence for supplying a car to terrorists behind the February 2010 bomb attack on Newry courthouse.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He is the brother of Mairead Farrell, one of three IRA members shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar in 1988.

In December 2011 Farrell pleaded guilty to providing a Renault Laguna for terrorist purposes.

At the time the court heard there was no evidence he was involved in the bombing, or that when he supplied the car he knew it was going to be used for the attack.

He was said to have been approached and asked to hand over the vehicle under threat.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

No-one was killed or injured in the explosion outside the courthouse.

Farrell, formerly from the Dunmurry area of Belfast, received an 18-month suspended sentence and made subject to the notification requirements for a 10-year period.

But he was arrested in the city on Tuesday for an alleged failure to comply with terms imposed under counter-terrorism legislation.

With the charge admitted at Belfast Magistrates’ Court, a defence lawyer argued that it had been a technical breach relating to a period before his client moved to his current home at Castle Heights in Dundalk, Co Louth.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It was also claimed that Farrell is not subject to the requirement while living outside the jurisdiction.

Deputy District Judge Anne Marshall conditionally discharged him for a two-year period – coinciding with the expiry of his notification obligations in 2021.