Dissident held leaving prison
By Allison Morris
Irish News
03/11/09
Dissident republican Paddy Murray has been arrested by the PSNI at the gates of a jail in England to be questioned about previous paramilitary activity.
Murray had been serving a four-year sentence for abduction.
Last October he was spirited out of Maghaberry Prison amid allegations he had been working as a Special Branch informer prior to his arrest.
The once senior member of the dissident republican Real IRA has been held in a prison somewhere in the south of England ever since.
He was arrested yesterday by PSNI detectives who had travelled to England to speak to the Co Antrim man.
It is believed Murray had intended to settle somewhere in England with his partner and two young children following his release.
In February 2008 Murray pleaded guilty to the abduction and assault of Antrim man Kevin Gillen three years previously.
It is believed his fresh arrest is in connection with his alleged role in a spate of Real IRA incendiary bomb attacks on commercial premises in 2006.
A spokeswoman for the PSNI said last night: “A 47-year old man has been arrested in relation to serious crime in Northern Ireland.
“He was arrested in England by detectives from the PSNI working in association with English police.
“He is being questioned in England.”
In 1994 Murray was sentenced to 25 years for possession of explosives. He was released in 2000 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
'So venceremos, beidh bua againn eigin lá eigin. Sealadaigh abú.'
--Bobby Sands