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Respinto appello: Michael Stone resta in carcere

Loyalist Stone’s legal appeal fails

Loyalist killer Michael Stone failed on Thursday in his attempt to overturn convictions for trying to assassinate Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.

Michael Stone @ StormontThe Court of Appeal upheld a verdict that his actions during a lone assault on Stormont in November 2006 were capable of constituting an attempt to murder the politicians.

Dismissing Stone’s challenge, Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan said the disabled 55-year-old had prepared an armoury, travelled to Parliament Buildings, and used explosives to create a diversion which would enable him to enter the Assembly chamber and seek out his targets.

Sir Declan 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 Mr McGuinness were due to be nominated as Northern Ireland’s First and Deputy First Ministers.

The one-time loyalist icon was armed with knives, an axe, garrotte 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 and warned: “You better run or you are a f***ing dead man”.

Stone, who suffers from hereditary motor neuropathy, was overpowered after trying to ignite the bag and throw it into the main foyer.

Delivering judgment alongside Lord Justices Higgins and Girvan, Sir Declan pointed out how Stone made a series of false claims.

These included taping over the fuses, using an empty gas canister, and only having heating oil in his bag.

Stone’s assault on Stormont came six years after he was released early from a life sentence under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

He had been jailed for a 1988 gun and grenade attack on an IRA funeral at Milltown Cemetery, west Belfast in which three men were killed.

Before being returned to custody he shouted: “The truth will out, gentlemen, believe me.”

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René Querin

Di professione grafico e web designer, sono appassionato di trekking e innamorato dell'Irlanda e della sua storia. Insieme ad Andrea Varacalli ho creato e gestisco Les Enfants Terribles.

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