AN Army deserter who bombed a military barracks walked free from court yesterday, despite being given a 14-year jail sentence for endangering the lives of soldiers.

Peter McMullen, 49, who planted four bombs that rocked Claro Barracks in North Yorkshire 22 years ago, after he joined the provisional IRA, was released when a judge ruled time he spent in custody in the United States while fighting extradition should count as part of his sentence.

McMullen, who served as a cook with the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment, was at a secret address last night.

York Crown Court was told he had been handed a death sentence by the IRA after refusing to carry out orders to execute a kidnap and robbery three years after the bombing.

More than 100 soldiers escaped injury in the blasts in March 1974, at the barracks of the 38th Regiment of the Royal Engineers, but the Naafi manageress suffered cuts from flying glass.

One of the four bombs, placed next to a building where soldiers were sleeping, exploded after bomb disposal officer tried to move it.

McMullen pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to three charges of causing explosions likely to endanger life and one of committing an act likely to cause an explosion.

Judge Arthur Myerson QC told father-of-four McMullen that he had carried out what he and others who executed it regarded as a military operation aimed to strike a blow at the British Army.

He told grey-haired McMullen, who walks with the aid of a stick: ``No warning was given.

``It was, in my view, more by good fortune than any other factor that loss of life and serious injury was avoided.''

But he said that the nine years and three months that McMullen had spent in jail in the USA fighting his eventual extradition and seven months awaiting trial in this country should count as the time he would serve.

That was more than the two-thirds of the 14-year sentence that he would normally have served.

The judge said that he took into account the fact that McMullen had since publicly renounced violence and the IRA in interviews and on television in the US, where he fled 18 years ago after the terrorist death sentence was passed on him.

He told McMullen that he did not know how long he would serve and did not intend to find out.

``I suspect it may be short but that in the end is not my concern. I am here to sentence you for the offences you have committed and give credit for the time you have already spent in custody.''

McMullen's counsel, Edward Fitzgerald QC, told the judge: ``This is an exceptional situation for a court to be dealing with somebody who has publicly taken the risks he has by publicly renounced violence and renouncing the IRA.

``This is a picture of a man who has really changed and over time showed a deep understanding of the wrongs of what he got involved in and in the wrongs of violence.''

He said that when McMullen fled to the US, shortly after serving three years in the Irish Republic for firearms offences, it was more in flight from the IRA than the British authorities.

The court was told that during McMullen's time in custody in the US, where he was earlier freed from jail after winning a controversial court ruling that his crimes were political, he had been in contact with British government agencies over what his fate might be if he returned to face trial.

After sentence was passed, McMullen, a Roman Catholic said to have deserted in 1971 because of his concerns over British internment policy in Northern Ireland, was held for nearly four hours at court while telephone discussions took place between prison authorities and the Home Office over whether he had served the time given to him.

Police said that he was finally freed on the instructions of the director of Doncaster prison, where he was being held.

Chief Inspector Dennis Brewer said McMullen had told him that he did not want to speak to the media.

He described the former corporal as ``relieved''.

``He has been released after a long, traumatic situation in the court today,'' said Mr Brewer.

``I think he is as surprised as you are, but he is very relieved and no doubt it is down to the efforts of his legal team. All he asks now is to be left alone. I have no instructions as to what his plans are.''

McMullen was led to a police van with a blue blanket over his head and driven away.

The man who led the investigation into the bombing, Detective Superintendent Stuart Bye, said after the sentence: ``The judge gave a detailed account of how he arrived at his decision and as far as the police are concerned it is totally fair and appropriate.''

Despite the IRA threat to McMullen's life, he said he had no evidence that he was at risk.