The Volunteer by Shane Paul O’Doherty

Author:Shane Paul O’Doherty
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Strategic Book Group

CHAPTER 5

London Bombings

As soon as I was fit, I prepared for the easiest and yet most important operation of my IRA career. The logistics were very simple: I got five hundred pounds sterling in cash, about two pounds of gelignite and black gelatin, with two dozen electric detonators. I put the explosives at the bottom of my deep rucksack, but slid the detonators into its tubular frame in case the baggage was x-rayed. I got a good false I.D., the background to which I learned in some detail, so that it would certainly hold if checked, and then flew to Heathrow, where I collected my bag without any difficulty. My big rucksack had gotten through both Dublin and Heathrow airports unscathed, with the explosives and detonators intact.

I had told absolutely no-one in Ireland that I was going, neither family nor friends. I just disappeared from Dublin and was gone. There was no doubt that the British Army, police and intelligence services would be very quickly aware that I was operational in London – just as many people in the IRA would quickly work it out as well. There are certain traits and behavioral characteristics surrounding operations which identify the operators. With the usual amount of loose talk in the IRA in Derry, and with a panic-stricken response by British security personnel, I would shortly be somewhere around the top of the wanted list, with too many agencies to be considered after my scalp. It was a thought which heightened my desire to accomplish as much as possible before the inevitable capture or killing.

I went to a flat rental agency, and took a small apartment with its own front door in West London, and moved in immediately. It was important for security reasons to have my own front door, so that any visitors I might have would remain unseen by others. I was a wealthier student from Ireland attending the University of London, if anyone was asking. I was in place as simple as that. I went shopping to procure the common electronic components I needed for the letter bombs, and set about making as many as possible, before my nerves were tried too far. The accidental blast hadn’t deterred me from making bombs, but it had shortened the time I wanted to spend working with them. I now needed regular breaks to steady my determination.

I had been given a verbal brief as to my targets: government ministers, military top brass, major institutions and so on. This was primarily a publicity-grabbing operation, with as much disruption as possible. A few waves of letter bombs, and some smaller time-bombs, would create a wealth of international publicity and bring to the attention of the world that Britain had many skeletons in its Irish cupboard which had not had a just burial.

I had in mind my own agenda, with, at the top of my target list, the British government minister who was responsible for security and the military at the time of Bloody Sunday, the former Conservative Home Secretary, Reginald Maudling.

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