Michael Stone (loyalist)

Michael Stone (born 2 April 1955) is a Northern Irish loyalist who was a volunteer in the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). Stone was born in England but raised in the Braniel estate in East Belfast, Northern Ireland. Convicted of killing three people and injuring more than sixty in an attack on mourners at Milltown Cemetery in 1988, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. While in jail, he became one of the leaders of the Ulster Defence Association/Ulster Freedom Fighters (UDA/UFF) prisoners.^[1]

In 2000, Stone was released from prison on licence under the Belfast Agreement and subsequently worked as an artist and writer. In November 2006, Stone was charged with (among other offences) the attempted murder of Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams, having been arrested attempting to enter the parliament buildings at Stormont while armed.^[2] Stone was subsequently convicted and sentenced to a further 16 years' imprisonment.^[3]

Milltown Cemetery attack

Stone devised the idea for the Milltown attack after an IRA bomb killed eleven people attending a Remembrance Sunday service at the cenotaph in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh in 1987.

Intent on killing top republicans, including Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, Stone attacked the paramilitary funeral which was being held at the Milltown Cemetery for the three IRA members killed 10 days earlier in Gibraltar by the Special Air Service (SAS) in what was termed Operation Flavius. As Danny McCann, Seán Savage, and Mairéad Farrell were being buried, Stone launched a commando-style assault against the mourners with grenades and a pistol. He killed three people, including IRA member Kevin Brady, and injured sixty others. Stone was eventually overpowered by infuriated mourners, who began to beat him mercilessly, and was then arrested by members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). He still walks with a slight limp as a result of the dislocated thigh bone he received in the aftermath of the attack.^[4] The attack was caught on television cameras, and provided some of the most savage images of the conflict.

According to Ulster Defence Association (UDA) member Sammy Duddy, two UDA brigadiers from two Belfast battalions, fearing IRA reprisals against themselves or the areas they controlled, telephoned the IRA after the Milltown attack, denying knowledge of Stone or his intentions. The two brigadiers both claimed that Stone was a "rogue loyalist" acting without UDA sanction or authorisation.^[5] Duddy, however, described Stone as "one of the UDA's best operators".^[6]

Stone, who apparently objected to the newspapers' portrayal of him as a mad Rambo-style gunman, also confessed to shooting dead three other Catholics between 1984 and 1987. He claimed the victims were linked to the IRA, although it appears that they were unaligned civilians. At his trial he pleaded not guilty, but refused to offer any defence. Convicted of six murders, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with sentences totaling 684 years, with a recommendation he serve at least thirty years.^[7]

While in HM Prison Maze, Stone became one of the five leaders of the Ulster Defence Association/"Ulster Freedom Fighters" prisoners.^[1] Alongside the other four, he met Mo Mowlam during the 1998 negotiations between the government and paramilitaries as part of the peace process. The goal was to get the paramilitaries to come to the negotiation table.^[1] He also collaborated with Martin Dillon on a book about his life entitled Stone Cold (ISBN 0-09-177410-1).

Release

On 24 July 2000, Stone was released from prison under the Good Friday Peace Agreement of 1998 that ruled that those convicted of terrorist crimes were to be set free. The jubilant and triumphant scenes that fellow loyalists greeted Stone with upon his release angered many Irish Nationalists. Paramilitaries of both sides were often treated as heroes upon their release and this often caused anger, particularly among the victims' relatives.

Stone had been living in East Belfast, London and Spain with his girlfriend Suzanne Cooper until the events of 24 November 2006.^[8] In 2001 Stone and Ms Cooper exchanged bullet-proof jackets as Christmas gifts. He has nine children from two previous marriages, and three grand children.^[9]

Since leaving prison Stone had concentrated on work in the community and being an artist – a hobby he began in the Maze. His paintings are vivid and not so much political as topical. They fetch between a few hundred and a few thousand pounds each. Stone published his autobiography titled None Shall Divide Us, in which he claimed that he had received "specialist assistance" from RUC operatives in carrying out the cemetery killings.^[10] A second book and the auctioning of the jacket he wore at the Milltown Cemetery at a Scottish loyalist club for £10,000 have brought forward legislation to ban former convicted paramilitaries released through the Northern Ireland Peace Process from profiting from their crimes.

In March 2002, Stone and Cooper fled Ulster for France following death threats from loyalists opposed to the Peace Process. The terrorists' – believed to represent the Orange Volunteers – ultimate aim was the eventual destruction of the Good Friday Agreement and the end of Northern Ireland's troubled peace process.^[11] Following time in Birmingham, Stone returned to East Belfast.

Stone featured in the BBC2 television series Facing the Truth mediated by Archbishop Desmond Tutu where he met relatives of a victim of loyalist violence. Sylvia Hackett talked with Stone, who was convicted of murdering her husband Dermot, a Catholic delivery man. Although he previously admitted to the murder, Stone told his victim's widow that he had no direct responsibility, having been withdrawn after planning the attack. At the end of their meeting she forced herself to walk over to Stone and shake his hand – when he placed a second hand on hers, she recoiled and fled from the room.^[12]

In November 2006, he claimed that in the 1980s he had been "three days" away from killing the then leader of the Greater London Council and former Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, over his invitations to Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness to visit him in London.^[13] The plot was cancelled over fears that it had been infiltrated by Special Branch detectives. ^[14]

Stormont arrest

On 24 November 2006, at 11.16 am, Stone was arrested for attempting to enter the parliament buildings at Stormont armed with an imitation Beretta 92FS pistol, a knife and a "viable" bomb, after placing 8 "pipe bombs" within the grounds of Stormont.^[15] One male and one female civilian security guard disarmed him as he entered the building, by trapping him within the revolving doors of the main lobby entrance. The security guards were injured during the struggle with Stone.^[16] Following the security breach, the building was evacuated and an Army Bomb Disposal Unit was called to examine the suspect device. Before entering the building he had scrawled an incomplete graffiti stating "Sinn Féin IRA mur[derers]" on the Parliament building. Later examination from the bomb squad has revealed that the bag that Stone was carrying contained between 6 and 8 viable explosive devices. Sir Hugh Orde, the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said "their potential for death, destruction and injury is being assessed" but added they were "fairly amateurish". As a result of Stone's actions, talks between political parties about power sharing and the election of a First Minister, which had only just resumed, had to be abandoned.^[17]

On 19 December 2006, Stone's defence lawyer Arthur Harvey, QC, claimed on his behalf that the Stormont incident was not intended to endanger the life of anyone. "It was, in fact, a piece of performance art replicating a terrorist attack", claimed Harvey.^[18] During his trial in September 2008, on 13 charges including the attempted murder of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, Stone repeated that his actions were "an act of performance art".^[19]

The then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Peter Hain) indicated that Stone's licence for release under the "Good Friday Agreement" would be revoked, and the full 638 year sentence for triple murder, terrorist charges and firearm charges be reimposed on him, in line with his sentencing in 1988.

On 25 November 2006, Stone appeared in court in Belfast charged with attempting to murder Sinn Féin leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. Stone faced a total of five charges of attempted murder following the incident at Stormont. He was also charged with possession of articles for terrorist purposes, possession of an imitation firearm in a public place, assault, grievous bodily harm, possession of an offensive weapon and possession of explosives. The court heard the articles allegedly for terrorist purposes included nailbombs, an axe and a garrotte. Michael Stone was remanded in custody until 22 December 2006. ^[7] A letter written by Stone was published in the Belfast Telegraph on 29 November 2006. In the letter dated 24 November 2006, Stone described his "mission to Kill" Adams and McGuinness in detail, giving a description of his intended movements once inside the building.^[18]

On 14 November he was found guilty of attempting to murder Sinn Féin leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. The judge said defence evidence that Stone had been taking part in some sort of a "comic parody" was "hopelessly unconvincing" and "self-contradictory". On 8 December 2008 Michael Stone received a 16 year sentence for his actions at Stormont.^[20]

As well as the two attempted murder charges, he was convicted on seven other counts, including possession of nail bombs, three knives, a garrotte and an axe, as well as causing criminal damage to the Stormont building.

Between his release in 1998 and arrest in 2006, Stone reportedly admitted several other acts of terrorism, including murder. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is currently drawing a case for these to be put to the judge in due course.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Mowlam visits the Maze | Beyond Westminster | Guardian Unlimited Politics
2. ^ Stone convicted of SF murder bids BBC news, 14 November 2008
3. ^ Michael Stone jailed for 16 years for SinnFein murder plot Sky news, 8 December 2008
4. ^ Michael Stone: Loyalist icon – CNN.com
5. ^ Wood, Ian S. Crimes of loyalty: a history of the UDA. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p.138
6. ^ Wood, Ian S. (2006). Crimes of loyalty: a history of the UDA. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p.139
7. ^ ^{a b} Stone on Adams murder bid charge
8. ^ BBC ON THIS DAY | 24 | 2000: Loyalist killer Michael Stone freed from Maze
9. ^ BBC News | NORTHERN IRELAND | Michael Stone: Notorious loyalist killer
10. ^ Scottish Loyalists Article
11. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
12. ^ Michael Stone: a loyalist hero and abstract artist – Britain – Times Online
13. ^ I Nearly Executed Ken Livingstone
14. ^ Loyalist hitman tells of plan to gun down Livingstone – Scotsman.com News
15. ^ Guardian A thing of the past
16. ^ Uproar at Stormont as loyalist killer with bomb tries to storm assembly | Special Reports | Guardian Unlimited Politics
17. ^ BBC News
18. ^ ^{a b} Belfast Telegraph
19. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7629417.stm
20. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7770961.stm

External links

• BBC article and background about the release from prison
• RTÉ article Stormont building is evacuated

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Name	Stone, Michael
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Date of birth	2 April 1955
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