Ex-IRA bomb maker cleared after extradition

an IRA bombing campaign, then immediately rearrested.

Former IRA bomb maker Desmond Ellis, a Dublin television repair man,

was being held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Mr Ellis, was taken to Paddington Green police station where he was

expected to be served with an exclusion order and put on a flight to

Dublin.

The jury's verdict last night was hailed by 39-year-old Mr Ellis as

not just a victory for the Irish, but for the British people.

In court Mr Ellis had personally demonstrated his appreciation of the

verdict. After the trial Judge had left the court he shouted ''Thank

you'' to the jury.

The jury's decision, after only two hours, was also greeted with

delight by Mr James Noel Ellis, the freed man's father. ''It is a just

verdict,'' he declared.

The prosecution had alleged that, although he never set foot on the

mainland, his fingerprints were found on devices discovered in a cache

of arms near Pangbourne, Berkshire.

It had clear links with a bomb blitz in London in October-November

1981 when four devices exploded and one was made safe, according to the

prosecution. Three people died.

The attacks included one on Irish Guards returning to Chelsea barracks

by coach. Two members of the public were killed and several injured.

Other targets were the Commandant General of the Royal Marines, Sir

Steuart Pringle, whose right leg had to be amputed, and the then

Attorney General Lord Havers.

Another bomb at a Wimpey Bar in Oxford Street blew up, killing

explosives officer Kenneth Howarth.

Mr Ellis admitted during his trial he had worked for the IRA in 1980

in Dublin where he was arrested and jailed for eight years for his

activities.

He had fought the extradition before five Judges in the Supreme Court

in Dublin and lost.

The same Supreme Court will rule shortly on the cases of three other

men who are claiming political motives for terrorist crimes committed in

Northern Ireland. The political loophole has helped dozens to escape

extradition.

Yesterday's verdict might help to restore some confidence in the

British legal system among ordinary Irish citizens, many of whom

believed it would be impossible for an IRA suspect to face a fair trial

in this country.

However, the events surrounding Mr Ellis's case did not help the cause

of extraditing suspected terrorists from Ireland to the UK.

During a hearing before a stipendiary magistrate in England, defence

counsel Mr Geoffrey Robertson said that it had been represented in the

Irish courts that there was evidence Mr Ellis had been in England: this

was false and misleading.

The prosecution conceded then there was no evidence that he had ever

set foot in England before being extradited.

The magistrate refused to commit Mr Ellis on the original charges

under the 1883 Explosive Substances Act, alleging conspiracy in the UK

to cause an explosion and possession of explosives.

Two new charges alleging conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm by

use of explosive substances and conspiracy to cause criminal damage were

subsituted.

This action ''unwittingly stirred up an international hornet's nest'',

said Mr Robertson.

Under international law, no-one who had been extradited could be tried

for offences other than those on which they had been extradited.

Following protests from Ireland, the prosecution said it would not

proceed on the two substituted charges and the original charges were

reinstated. One was dropped midway through the Old Bailey trial.

The prosecution had argued that physical presence in the UK was not

required to establish liability.

During his Old Bailey trial, Mr Ellis readily admitted he had worked

for the IRA in 1980 in Dublin where he had been arrested and jailed. He

was from a staunch republican family. His grandparents fought in the

1916 Dublin uprising.

His counsel Mr Robertson, told the jury that Mr Ellis had served long

years in prison for aiding the IRA in the 80s. He said the defendant had

been brought back to Britain to be punished again for what he did in

1981.

''No civilised society allows anyone to be punished again for the same

offence,'' the QC said.

Yesterday solicitor Mrs Gareth Pierce said that had Mr Ellis been

aware he was to have been recharged with something he had already been

charged with in Ireland in 1981, it could have been raised at the

extradition proceedings.

''I would think it obvious the whole extradition process should be

looked at again,'' she said.

The Old Bailey jury had heard that Mr Ellis's fingerprints were found

on devices on an IRA arms and explosives cache, discovered by chance by

two forestry workers near Pangbourne.

The Crown alleged that although Mr Ellis had not set foot in the UK,

he was an esential member of the terrorist plot to cause explosions.

''The Crown contend that he was clearly a bomb-maker,'' said Mr David

Jeffreys, QC, prosecuting.

However, throughout the case, Mr Ellis has maintained that he knew

nothing of a terror plot on the mainland.

Mr Ellis told the jury that he had always believed that a bombing

campaign on the mainland was counter productive. He believed that the

devices he worked on in Dublin were meant for Northern Ireland -- he had

no knowledge of the mainland campaign.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said the acquittal underlined the

absurdity of extradition from the Republic. ''Political extradition is a

nonsense which strips Irish citizens of their legal and human rights. It

must stop.''