My man is not a police informer
The wife of a suspected Real IRA informant has vowed to stand by her man. Tish Murray told Sunday Life that her husband, convicted bomber Paddy Murray, is moving back to Antrim town in November.
She rubbished reports that the 46-year-old is a high-level Special Branch informant, saying that if he was she would “leave him in the morning”.
The mother-of-three also revealed that Murray has turned his back on politics and wants to lead a quiet life.
“Paddy is coming home to Antrim in November once he finishes his prison sentence in England,” revealed Tish.
“He’s not an informant, if he was I would leave him in the morning. When he gets home he will face down all the lies being spread about him.”
Paddy Murray was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 1994 for possession of an IRA bomb. After being released early under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement he began working for Sinn Fein.
However, he fell out with the party and joined the Real IRA. Murray later pleaded guilty to kidnapping and assaulting Kevin Gillen and was sentenced to four years in jail in February 2008.
He spent one month in Maghaberry before being secretly moved to a jail in England. Prison bosses were concerned that his life was under threat amid claims he was working as a police informant.
Murray’s fingerprints were on fire-bombs found by police in a Ballymena house in February 2005. He was never charged with any offence, creating suspicion in Real IRA ranks that he was an informant.
Dissident republican sources told Sunday Life that Murray would be a target if he returned to Antrim.
However, the threat of revenge attacks does not worry his wife.
“I’m not worried about the house being attacked when Paddy comes back. If anyone calls him a tout I will ask them to prove it,” said Tish Murray.
Tish also denied claims Murray was moved to an English jail for his own safety. She added: “He was being held in 23-hour lock up at Maghaberry. He asked the screws to talk to the OC of the republican wing to see if he could move there, but they refused.
“They told Paddy they could move him in with the ordinary criminals or on to the paedophile wing.
“But he told them where to go so the only option left was to move him to a jail in England. That’s where Paddy will be for the next few months until he gets out and comes home to me and the kids in Antrim.”
