Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly has been pardoned for Old Bailey bombing by the Queen
Royal Prerogative of Mercy given to SF’s Gerry Kelly after bomb in London which left one dead and 200 injured and his escape from jail 10 years later.
Gerry Kelly admits today that he has been given the Royal Prerogative of Mercy by the Queen.
The Sinn Fein man was granted mercy after being convicted of the Old Bailey bombing in 1973.
He was convicted in November of that year of causing explosions, conspiracy to cause explosions and received two life sentences plus 20 years. He had 14 rifles in his possession when he was captured in London.
He was returned to Northern Ireland to serve out his jail term and in September 1983 he escaped from the Maze prison with 37 other Republican prisoners and remained at large for three years.
Today he claims he was never on the run.
Quizzed by TUV leader Jim Allister if he had been granted the special pardon, he said: “Actually I have. But that isn’t on the run.
“If you remember, I was arrested in Holland and the Dutch quashed all my sentences and the British agreed to that.
“To get me back here and it was after an escape but I wasn’t on the run. It wasn’t a letter to do with on the runs.”
