Ulster Unionist Justice spokesperson Tom Elliott has voiced his amazement at the suspended sentence given to Marian McGlinchey following her admission of providing a mobile phone used to claim responsibility for the Real IRA murders of two soldiers at Massereene Barracks in Antrim in 2009 and other offences.
Mr Elliott said:
"Many people in Northern Ireland and indeed in the rest of the United Kingdom will be amazed that Marian McGlinchey, having admitted providing the mobile phone used to claim responsibility for the cowardly murder of two unarmed soldiers, should receive a suspended sentence.
“The Judge’s reasoning – that the risk of reoffending was low, that McGlinchey's health was now "poor and deteriorating" and if she returned to prison she faced a significant risk of severe depression will be utterly rejected by many people.
“Prison time should not be easy or something people look forward to. I would certainly have preferred it if the judge had paid more attention to the health of the two murdered soldiers rather than that of Marian McGlinchey.
“Sappers Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar were the victims in this, and my sympathies are with them and their families, not a woman who was convicted for the terrorist bombing of the Old Bailey in 1973 in which one man died and 200 were injured, who was released on licence, and chose to involve herself in terrorism once again.”
“This sentence comes very soon after the news that McGlinchey’s fellow Old Bailey bomber Gerry Kelly received a warning for obstructing the police, by clinging onto a police landrover last summer. The treatment of McGlinchey and Kelly is in stark contrast to the heavy sentences handed down to many non-republicans in recent months and I fully understand the perception of many in the community that the justice system is being very, very lenient towards republicans.
“When I met the Lord Chief Justice some months ago to highlight concerns about the imbalance in how individuals from different sections of the community were being dealt with, perceived or otherwise, he agreed to progress a much more open and transparent policy. I will now be pressing him to offer explanations on what many will regard as serious and significant unfairness.”