Sun Sentinel
Lisa Ocker
One of four suspected Irish Republican Army members, charged with trying to buy a surface-to-air missile in Palm Beach County, claimed responsibility for a 1984 assassination attempt against British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, documents filed on Tuesday show.
Kevin Joseph McKinley, 33, an Irish-born Riviera Beach resident, made the claim last month during negotiations to buy the Stinger missile from undercover agents posing as arms dealers, officials said.
The agents detailed the conversation in papers filed in conjunction with the first appearance of McKinley and the other men before a federal magistrate in West Palm Beach.
During a meeting on Dec. 2, 1989, at a North Palm Beach restaurant, the agents wrote that McKinley said he was a member of the IRA. They wrote that McKinley said the IRA carried out ``many bombings without being caught and specifically cited his people`s responsibility for an attempt to assassinate British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at Brighton,`` court papers show.
Thatcher was not injured, but four people were killed and 32 others injured in the bomb blast at the Grand Hotel in the southern coastal town of Brighton, England, during the 1984 conference of her Conservative Party.
McKinley`s attorney, Roger Colton of West Palm Beach, denounced the statement that agents said McKinley made as ``sales puffing.`` ``The facts show he, himself, was not involved,`` Colton said.
Relatives of McKinley and a handful of supporters were in the courtroom.
McKinley and the co-defendants were arrested on Jan. 12 by agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the U.S. Customs Service.
The other suspects are Joseph Martin McColgan, 39, of Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland; and Sean John McCann, 34, and Seamus Moley, 30, both Irish-born residents of Canada.
All are charged with federal firearms export violations, which carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and $1.25 million in fines.
At the request of prosecutors and defense attorneys, U.S. Magistrate Ann Vitunac postponed until Friday a hearing to determine whether the four should be jailed until their trial.
Officials with customs and ATF declined to give details about how they became connected with the men. However, the Stinger was ``at the top of their wish list,`` said Dan McBride, ATF resident agent.
The heat-seeking missile, with a range of 3 to 5 miles, is powerful enough to take down a supersonic jet, he said.
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