Man jailed for 1997 bomb attack on Coalisland RUC station

Paul Campbell, 41, of The Mills, Coalisland, was found guilty last month of causing an explosion likely to endanger life, and possessing an improvised explosive device with intent to endanger life, on March 26, 1997.

Campbell, who was 18 at the time of the attack, had denied both offences at his non-jury Diplock-style trial heard by Belfast Recorder Judge David McFarland.

It was the prosecution case that Campbell was one of two men who launched the attack, that he was shot by ‘undercover military operative ‘Soldier A’ as he fled from the scene, and that he jumped into a priest’s car that was parked nearby and fled the jurisdiction to the Republic.

A co-accused, Gareth Doris, who was also shot in the aftermath of the bomb attack and arrested at the scene, was later convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

A senior prosecution lawyer said blood and DNA samples recovered after the bomb attack on Coalisland RUC station matched that of Campbell.

At today’s sentencing hearing at Belfast Crown Court, the senior prosecutor said the aggravating factors were that the charges were terrorist related and the fact that Campbell fled the jurisdiction and wasn’t actually arrested and charged until 2015 when was detained by the PSNI after getting off a train in Portadown.

A further aggravating factor was that the intended victims of the bomb attack were police officers.

He added: “There is little by way of mitigation as this was terrorist related.’’

But defence counsel Orlando Pownall QC branded as “laughable and risible’’ the prosecution submission that there was “little by way of mitigation’’.

He added: “What we do seek is an acknowledgement of the fact that he was convicted of events which took place in March 1997 when he was 18 years of age and he is now a grown man with four young children and a wife.

“We submit that the passage of time of 23 years must afford him significant mitigation.”

Mr Pownall urged the court to take into account the “significant delay” in bringing the case to court.

Passing sentence, Judge McFarland said it was likely that Doris “was in possession of the device which contained between half and three-quarters of a kilo of military grade explosives and you (Campbell) provided support for him”.

Judge McFarland added: “I consider the aggravating feature is that this was a terrorist incident.’’

Taking his starting point for sentence as 10 years, the judge said he was reducing that by two-and-a-half years because of the delay in the case and also “the impact this sentence will have on your children”.