18 June 1986
The Times
A landlord who rented a room to an IRA terrorist gang told a jury yesterday that he stumbled on their bomb arsenal and 'in a panic' moved it all into the cellar. John Boyle said he discovered the arms cache in his lodgers' room after they had moved out. He shifted it after his mother told him to 'get it out of the house'.
He moved a number of bags, said by the prosecution to contain explosives and guns intended for a summer bombing campaign last year. Mr Boyle denied he had any intention of secreting the materials away so the IRA could use them later.
Mr Boyle, who faces three charges in connection with the cache, also told the Central Criminal Court what he thought about his lodgers. 'Tom and Ann Smith', allegedly Patrick Magee and Ella O'Dwyer, seemed an ideal couple, but he did not like 'Pat', said to be Gerard McDonnell, who had an 'intimidating smile'.
Mr Boyle, aged 26, an electrician, of James Gray Street, Glasgow, is accused of procuring, counselling, aiding, abetting or being an accessory to the commission of a crime by Magee and the others by assisting with the provision of premises and the storage of material for causing explosions between January and June last year.
He is also alleged to have had in his possession or control explosive substances with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property in the UK or enabling another to do so last June.
He is also charged with being an accessory to the commission of a crime by Magee, McDonnell, Martina Anderson and O'Dwyer. He pleads not guilty to all the charges. The trial continues today.
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