Michael Stone (loyalist paramilitary)
Encyclopedia
Michael Stone 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.
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. Stone was subsequently convicted and sentenced to a further 16 years' imprisonment.
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. 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. Duddy, however, described Stone as "one of the UDA's best operators".
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.
While in HM Prison
Maze
, Stone became one of the five leaders of the Ulster Defence Association/"Ulster Freedom Fighters" prisoners. 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. He also collaborated with Martin Dillon
on a book about his life entitled Stone Cold (ISBN 0-09-177410-1).
. 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. 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.
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. 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. 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.
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. The plot was cancelled over fears that it had been infiltrated by Special Branch
detectives.
armed with an imitation Beretta 92FS pistol, a knife and a "viable" bomb, after placing 8 "pipe bomb
s" within the grounds of Stormont. 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. 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.
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. 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
".
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. 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.
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.
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.
People of Northern Ireland
Northern Irish people or people of Northern Ireland are "all persons born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British citizen, an Irish citizen or is otherwise entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of...
loyalist
Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...
who was a volunteer
Volunteer (Ulster loyalist)
Volunteer, abbreviated Vol., is a title used by a number of Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisations to describe their members.-History of the term volunteer in Ireland:...
in the Ulster Defence Association
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...
(UDA). Stone was born in England but raised in the Braniel
Braniel
Braniel, is a large housing estate in East Belfast, Northern Ireland. Two small estates, Roddens and Glenview are located in the area, and are often referred to the Braniel. It is a predominantly Protestant area, with the majority of residents being loyalist or unionist...
estate in East Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. Convicted of killing three people and injuring more than sixty in an attack on mourners at Milltown Cemetery
Milltown Cemetery attack
The Milltown Cemetery attack The Milltown Cemetery attack The Milltown Cemetery attack (also known as the Milltown Cemetery killings or Milltown Massacre took place on 16 March 1988 in Belfast's 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.
In 2000, Stone was released from prison on licence under the Belfast Agreement
Belfast Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement , sometimes called the Stormont Agreement, was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process...
and subsequently worked as an artist and writer. In November 2006, Stone was charged with (among other offences) the attempted murder of Martin McGuinness
Martin McGuinness
James Martin Pacelli McGuinness is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and the current deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. McGuinness was also the Sinn Féin candidate for the Irish presidential election, 2011. He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland....
and Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
, having been arrested attempting to enter the parliament buildings at Stormont
Parliament Buildings (Northern Ireland)
The Parliament Buildings, known as Stormont because of its location in the Stormont area of Belfast is the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Northern Ireland Executive...
while armed. Stone was subsequently convicted and sentenced to a further 16 years' imprisonment.
Milltown Cemetery attack
Stone devised the idea for the Milltown attackMilltown Cemetery attack
The Milltown Cemetery attack The Milltown Cemetery attack The Milltown Cemetery attack (also known as the Milltown Cemetery killings or Milltown Massacre took place on 16 March 1988 in Belfast's Milltown Cemetery...
after an IRA bomb
Remembrance Day Bombing
The Remembrance Day bombing took place on 8 November 1987 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland...
killed eleven people attending a Remembrance Sunday
Remembrance Sunday
In the United Kingdom, 'Remembrance Sunday' is held on the second Sunday in November, which is the Sunday nearest to 11 November Armistice Day. It is the anniversary of the end of hostilities in the First World War at 11 a.m...
service at the cenotaph in Enniskillen
Enniskillen
Enniskillen is a town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is located almost exactly in the centre of the county between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,599 in the 2001 Census...
, County Fermanagh
County Fermanagh
Fermanagh District Council is the only one of the 26 district councils in Northern Ireland that contains all of the county it is named after. The district council also contains a small section of County Tyrone in the Dromore and Kilskeery road areas....
in 1987.
Intent on killing top republicans
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
, including Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
and Martin McGuinness
Martin McGuinness
James Martin Pacelli McGuinness is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and the current deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. McGuinness was also the Sinn Féin candidate for the Irish presidential election, 2011. He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland....
, Stone attacked the paramilitary funeral which was being held at the Milltown Cemetery
Milltown Cemetery
Milltown Cemetery is a large cemetery in west Belfast, Northern Ireland.It lies within the townland of Ballymurphy, between Falls Road and the M1 motorway. Milltown Cemetery opened in 1869 and there are now approximately 200,000 of Belfast's citizens buried there. Most of those buried there are...
for the three IRA members killed 10 days earlier in Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
by the Special Air Service
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
(SAS) in what was termed Operation Flavius
Operation Flavius
Operation Flavius was the name given to an operation by a Special Air Service team in Gibraltar on 6 March 1988 tasked to prevent a Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb attack...
. As Danny McCann, Seán Savage
Seán Savage
Seán Savage was a volunteer of the Provisional IRA who was shot and killed by British Army Special Air Service soldiers in Operation Flavius.-Early life:...
, and Mairéad Farrell
Mairéad Farrell
Mairéad Farrell was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army . She was killed by SAS soldiers during Operation Flavius, a British Army operation to prevent a bombing in Gibraltar.-Early life:...
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
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish 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. The attack was caught on television cameras, and provided some of the most savage images of the conflict.
According to Ulster Defence Association
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...
(UDA) member Sammy Duddy
Sammy Duddy
Evan Abbott Samuel Duddy , known as Sammy, was a Northern Irish loyalist, having joined the Ulster Defence Association shortly after its formation in 1971...
, 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. Duddy, however, described Stone as "one of the UDA's best operators".
Stone, who apparently objected to the newspapers' portrayal of him as a mad Rambo
John Rambo
John Rambo is an iconic fictional character and the basis of the Rambo saga. He first appeared in the 1972 novel First Blood by David Morrell, but later became more famous in the film series, played by Sylvester Stallone...
-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.
While in HM Prison
Her Majesty's Prison Service
Her Majesty's Prison Service is a part of the National Offender Management Service of the Government of the United Kingdom tasked with managing most of the prisons within England and Wales...
Maze
Maze (HM Prison)
Her Majesty's Prison Maze was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from mid-1971 to mid-2000....
, Stone became one of the five leaders of the Ulster Defence Association/"Ulster Freedom Fighters" prisoners. Alongside the other four, he met Mo Mowlam
Mo Mowlam
Marjorie "Mo" Mowlam was a British Labour Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament for Redcar from 1987 to 2001 and served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.Mowlam's time as Northern...
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. He also collaborated with Martin Dillon
Martin Dillon
Martin Dillon is an author and journalist from Northern Ireland. He worked for eighteen years at the BBC and has written a number of plays and novels, but he is best known for his non-fiction books about the Troubles....
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 NationalistsIrish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
. 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. 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.
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
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
titled None Shall Divide Us, in which he claimed that he had received "specialist assistance" from RUC operatives in carrying out the cemetery killings. A second book and the auctioning of the jacket he wore at the Milltown Cemetery at a Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
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. Following time in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, Stone returned to East Belfast.
Stone featured in the BBC2 television series Facing the Truth mediated by Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...
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.
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
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
and former Mayor of London
Mayor of London
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008...
, Ken Livingstone
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
, over his invitations to Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
's Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
and Martin McGuinness
Martin McGuinness
James Martin Pacelli McGuinness is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and the current deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. McGuinness was also the Sinn Féin candidate for the Irish presidential election, 2011. He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland....
to visit him in London. The plot was cancelled over fears that it had been infiltrated by Special Branch
Specialist Operations
Specialist Operations is a directorate of the Metropolitan Police. At its peak, SO was a group of twenty specialist units, which were formed to give the Metropolitan Police a specialist policing capability. The SO designation was implemented in 1986 as part of Sir Kenneth Newman's restructuring of...
detectives.
Stormont arrest
On 24 November 2006, at 11.16 am, Stone was arrested for attempting to enter the parliament buildings at StormontParliament Buildings (Northern Ireland)
The Parliament Buildings, known as Stormont because of its location in the Stormont area of Belfast is the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Northern Ireland Executive...
armed with an imitation Beretta 92FS pistol, a knife and a "viable" bomb, after placing 8 "pipe bomb
Pipe bomb
A pipe bomb is an improvised explosive device, a tightly sealed section of pipe filled with an explosive material. The containment provided by the pipe means that simple low explosives can be used to produce a relatively large explosion, and the fragmentation of the pipe itself creates potentially...
s" within the grounds of Stormont. 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. 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
Hugh Orde
Sir Hugh Stephen Roden Orde, OBE, QPM is the current President of the Association of Chief Police Officers, representing the 44 police forces of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Between 2002-2009 he was the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland .Sir Hugh joined London's...
, the Chief Constable
Chief Constable
Chief constable is the rank used by the chief police officer of every territorial police force in the United Kingdom except for the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police, as well as the chief officers of the three 'special' national police forces, the British Transport Police, Ministry...
of the Police Service of Northern Ireland
Police Service of Northern Ireland
The Police Service of Northern Ireland is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary which, in turn, was the successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary in 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.
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
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
replicating a terrorist attack", claimed Harvey. During his trial in September 2008, on 13 charges including the attempted murder of Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
and Martin McGuinness
Martin McGuinness
James Martin Pacelli McGuinness is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and the current deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. McGuinness was also the Sinn Féin candidate for the Irish presidential election, 2011. He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland....
, Stone repeated that his actions were "an act of performance art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
".
The then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Peter Hain
Peter Hain
Peter Gerald Hain is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for the Welsh constituency of Neath since 1991, and has served in the Cabinets of both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, firstly as Leader of the House of Commons under Blair and both Secretary of State for...
) 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
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
charged with attempting to murder Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
leaders Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
and Martin McGuinness
Martin McGuinness
James Martin Pacelli McGuinness is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and the current deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. McGuinness was also the Sinn Féin candidate for the Irish presidential election, 2011. He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland....
. 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. 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.
On 14 November he was found guilty of attempting to murder Sinn Féin leaders Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
and Martin McGuinness
Martin McGuinness
James Martin Pacelli McGuinness is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and the current deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. McGuinness was also the Sinn Féin candidate for the Irish presidential election, 2011. He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland....
. 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.
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
Police Service of Northern Ireland
The Police Service of Northern Ireland is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary which, in turn, was the successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary in Northern Ireland....
(PSNI) is currently drawing a case for these to be put to the judge in due course.