Court dismisses loyalist killer's claim that attack on Sinn F�in's Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness was performance art
Loyalist killer Michael Stone has failed in his attempt to overturn convictions for trying to assassinate Sinn F�in leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.
Stone claimed after his arrest in the foyer of the Northern Ireland parliament in November 2006 that he was engaged in an act of performance art, rather than an assassination bid.
At the time of the incident he was out on licence, having been sentenced in the late 1980s for the murder of three mourners, including an IRA member, at the funeral of three Provisionals killed by the SAS in Gibraltar. The court of appeal in Northern Ireland today upheld a verdict that his actions at Stormont were capable of constituting an attempt to murder the two Sinn F�in leaders.
Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan said Stone had used explosives to create a diversion that would enable him to enter the assembly chamber and seek out his targets.
Morgan said: "We are satisfied that the lighting of a fuse can be said to be part of the execution or implementation of the plan to kill Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness and thereby more than merely preparatory to the implementation of that plan.
"We express no view on whether the acts preceding the lighting of the fuse were sufficient."
Stone was jailed for 16 years for the attempted murders and other offences including possessing explosives and an array of weapons.
He claimed to have been engaged in an act of performance art when he went to Stormont on the day Ian Paisley and McGuinness were due to be nominated as Northern Ireland's First and Deputy Ministers.
Stone was armed with knives, an axe, garotte and a flight bag containing explosive fireworks, flammable liquids, a butane gas canister and fuses. He pointed a gun at a security guard who discovered him writing graffiti on the front pillars at Parliament Buildings.
Stone, who suffers from hereditary motor neuropathy, was overpowered after trying to light the bag and throw it into the main foyer. He was shouting remarks about Sinn F�in and Paisley and "no power sharing with IRA".
Following his arrest, Stone told police he had planned to enter the debating chamber at Stormont, use a smoke bomb as a diversion and slit the throats of Adams and McGuinness.
Eight devices were discovered and explosives experts said some of them were capable of injuring anyone standing within five to 10 metres. Another could have created a fireball capable of causing severe burns.
At his trial Stone said he did not intend to kill anyone, but used harmful substances because he wanted to be taken seriously.
According to his account, the nails in the devices were symbols of "nailing the truth", while a fisherman's knives and hat were used in apparent reference to McGuinness's former nickname, the Fisherman.
Stone had written two letters to journalists stating that, by the time they received them, he would either be in jail for the rest of his life or, more probably, dead, because he was set on his mission to assassinate Adams and McGuinness.
He claimed to have written a third letter to the then chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Sir Hugh Orde, describing his intention to carry out a form of performance art.
Appealing against the convictions for attempted murder and possession of explosive substances with intent, his lawyers argued that he knew any attempt to kill the men would be impossible. They claimed his foiled bid to get into Parliament Buildings was the action of "a sad attention-seeker out of touch with reality".
Stone's frail physical condition was emphasised; judges were told it took him two hours to make the mile-long walk from the gates of Stormont.
But delivering judgment alongside Lord Justices Higgins and Girvan, Morgan pointed out how Stone had made a series of false claims. These included taping over the fuses, using an empty gas canister and having only heating oil in his bag.
Stone's assertions that his letters to journalists were to add to the drama of the performance and to increase coverage of the event were also rejected.
"These letters would not have been received until the following morning, by which time, if he was correct in his evidence, they would have been demonstrably false," the judge said. "In those circumstances they could not have added to any performance."
Dealing with Stone's intentions, Morgan added: "The fact that some of the items in his possession had been painted or improvised did not take away from the evidence pointing to his intention to kill and cause serious injury.
"We do not consider that the conclusion of the learned trial judge on this issue is open to criticism."
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