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Michael Stone
He was also convicted for three other murders but was released early in August under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.The judge at his trial had recommended the 44-year-old East Belfast man serve 30 years imprisonment.Television pictures of his attack on the funeral of one of the three IRA members killed by the SAS in Gibraltar were beamed all over the world from Milltown Cemetery in west Belfast. Few of us will forget the scenes on our television screens when Stone gunned down mourners at a Belfast funeral.
When Stone emerged from HMP The Maze in August, he declared "my war is over".However, it has been difficult for him to stay out of the limelight.On 15 August 2000 he stood on a platform alongside convicted UFF commander Johnny Adair after a show of strength by loyalist paramilitaries on Belfast's Shankill Road.
The Following Articles have appeared in the Sunday Life Newspaper
Written in Stone: Murder in the cemetery
By Stephen Breen
NOTORIOUS loyalist killer Michael Stone today reveals for the first time
how the security forces helped him plan one of the most shocking incidents
in Ulster's turbulent history.
Over the next three weeks, Sunday Life will exclusively lift the lid on
the former UDA hit-man's never-before told secrets.
Today, we reveal how Stone planned the terrifying attack which was to
cement his notoriety - Milltown.
And his explosive revelations come after the Stevens Inquiry published
evidence last month, of collusion between loyalist terrorists and the
security forces, during the 1980s.
Stone devotes three chapters to the planning, execution and aftermath of
his exploits, but it is the east Belfast loyalist's bombshell revelation
of "specialist assistance" he received in preparing for his murder bid on
the Sinn Fein and Provo leadership in a west Belfast graveyard, that is
most shocking.
On Milltown, Stone recalls how:
A mystery RUC man drove him from Coleraine to Belfast with the weapons to
be used in the attack, to guarantee his safe passage through vehicle check
points.
• His pistol and ammunition were RUC issue.
• He was told there would be no police or Army presence on the day of the
three IRA funerals.
• He had received aerial shots of the cemetery, street maps and exact
placing of Army posts overlooking the cemetery.
• Gerry Adams' and Martin McGuinness' lives were spared, thanks to the
daughter of one of the Gibraltar Three, and how,
• The Milltown operation was sanctioned by two UDA brigadiers.
Says Stone: "I was introduced to Mr A in the hay shed of his sprawling
property, by an associate.
"Mr A was a leading figure in Ulster Resistance.
"In the shed, there was part of a large arms shipment that had arrived,
via contacts of Brian Nelson.
"I had never seen so many weapons in one place at one time.
"I took seven grenades, one pistol and a box of ammunition.
"I was to be driven back to Belfast from Coleraine, by my contact, but
when I got into the back seat, a stranger was sitting behind the wheel.
"My associate told me not to worry about vehicle check points, and the car
drove off.
"The driver held up his RUC warrant card.
"If we were stopped at a checkpoint, he would show his pass and we would
be waved through.
"I had specialist associates.
"One gave me aerial shots of the cemetery and another gave me street maps
which had the exact placing of the Army sangars, or lookout posts,
overlooking Milltown cemetery.
"The information was vital. I needed to know if I would be observed in the
cemetery.
"I was never handed a file by a member of the security forces, although I
do concede that the files were very professional, both in presentation and
content, especially the aerial photography.
"I am not aware of any loyalist paramilitary group that had its own air
corps.
"I checked with my intelligence officers, who confirmed the RUC and Army
would not be shadowing the cemetery.
"I had a clear run and that was one less thing to worry about.
"I was given information on potential targets from the UFF's intelligence
officers.
"The files always arrived in an A4 brown, manila envelope.
"Inside, were videos, pictures, Ordnance survey maps, aerial shots and
documents.
"There were also RUC mug shots, and photographs of targets taken in
prison.
"I never questioned where they came from, but it was obvious UFF
intelligence officers had connections with the security forces.
"The countdown to Milltown had begun.
"On the chosen day, I followed my usual travelling procedure, taking a bus
into town.
"I got off at the City Hall and began walking in the direction of the
Royal Victoria Hospital.
"A black cab pulled up along side me. I got in and joined two young men
and a young woman.
"I was relieved they ignored me.
"We began our journey to St Agnes's Church.
"The black cab pulled up outside Andersonstown leisure centre and I got
out to make the walk to the church, where the funeral Mass for Danny
McCann and Sean Savage would take place.
"Mairead Farrell's funeral service was taking place in another part of the
city, but she would join her dead colleagues for the slow procession to
the republican plot.
I kept walking towards the church.
"The streets and roads were clogged with men, women and children making
their slow pilgrimage to the funeral Mass.
"One came striding up to me and said, 'I know you. You're Flinto. You
drink in the upstairs lounge of the Beaten Docket. I didn't know you were
one of us'.
"I had been recognised by a waitress. I smiled at her and kept walking.
"The chapel itself was packed.
"I positioned myself three rows from the back, standing at the end of the
pew.
"I mentally searched for a place to open fire. "I could clearly see the
back of Martin McGuinness's and Gerry Adams's heads.
"I wanted to pull a grenade out and blast the two of them to smithereens.
"It wasn't part of the original plan to execute McGuinness and Adams in
their place of worship.
"It seemed too barbaric to do that in the confines of a church.
"But I wanted to do it because the IRA did it in the village of Darkley,
in 1983.
"But then I saw this blonde, teenage girl - Danny McCann's sister.
"She was crying. I saw her grief and felt sad for her.
"The blonde girl saved Adams' and McGuinness' lives.
"I learnt a lesson in St Agnes' church - republicans weep and mourn, just
like loyalists.
"Mentally, I went to plan B.
"I knew I had to be in position at the cemetery before the cortage
arrived."
As he approached the gates of Milltown, he recognised someone.
"As I passed him, he said to the man beside him: 'I know him, he's a
Prod'.
"I reached into my coat and flicked the safety catch off the Browning, but
kept walking.
"I knew I had about 20 minutes before the cortege arrived.
"I walked slowly, passing the roll of honour, to the republican plot, and
stood with small groups of people as the cortege and its wall of
supporters drifted in.
"I was now in position.
"Adams and McGuinness were just three or four feet away from me, as they
followed the coffins.
"I was seconds from priming a grenade, dropping it into the crowd, and
making a run for it, but there were so many mourners,
"I found all my exits blocked.
"Behind me, I could hear the priest begin his service.
"His words rang out among the headstones.
"It was time for me to make my move.
"I knew I was going to have to go into the republican plot to get Adams
and McGuinness, and I knew I was going to have to shoot all around me too
to get in and out of there alive.
"I remembered La Mon, Kingsmills, the Abercorn and Enniskillen.
"It was time.
"I took out the Browning and fired three shots directly into the air.
"People turned to look at me and some began to applaud, thinking it was
the start of the volley of shots.
"I saw shock on their faces as they realised I was unmasked and not the
firing party.
"I wanted to panic the crowd.
"I needed to confuse them.
"I wanted them to start running in fear. The grenades would do that.
"I pulled the split pins and lobbed both grenades straight at McGuinness
and Adams.
"Two loud thuds. The grenades had gone off.
"To say there was wholesale panic, is a gross understatement.
"I moved forward, Browning in my hand, my targets just a few metres ahead,
and within my sights.
"I took out another grenade and ripped out the pin. Then the crowd surged
forward.
"They were shouting sectarian obscenities like 'Orange Bastard' and 'kill
him'.
"The operation was no longer a military action.
"I started walking towards the motorway.
"The crowd was gathering behind me, throwing missiles from the safety of
gravestones.
"The gruesome dance of death had begun.
"My getaway car, doubtless hovering somewhere nearby on the motorway,
could now pull up.
"To reach my associates, I had to negotiate the bog meadow.
"I began to jog, looking around to see if anyone was following, or
catching me up.
"I continued to watch the crowd, count my rounds, and make my way to the
hard shoulder.
"I looked behind me. The crowd was still there. They had gained on me.
"I pulled out a grenade. It landed among the crowd and exploded.
"They scattered in all directions as tufts of grass and lumps of earth,
blew into the sky.
"I fired two more rounds. Then the Browning seized. I tried to release the
magazine. It wouldn't budge.
"Meanwhile, the crowd was surging forward, but where the f*** was my
getaway car.
"Had they got delayed or arrested? Had they got the time wrong?
"In the end, the getaway car never showed.
"I had two grenades and my Ruger with five rounds left.
"I knew I was going to have to defend myself. I was determined to get out
of Milltown alive.
"The crowd was now over the chain-link fence, and had reached the hard
shoulder.
"I pointed the Ruger at them, and fired my final shots.
"I looked behind me and saw a wall of Land Rovers and armed cops, at the
bottom of the motorway.
"It was a Catch-22 situation. I could run towards the cops, but they would
shoot me and I couldn't face being killed by the security forces.
"The operation to kill McGuinness and Adams was a military disaster.
"The republican mob got to me before the RUC.
"They hurled bricks and stones, lumps of wood, and even a road cone.
"I was hoping one of them had a gun and would shoot me on the spot.
"I didn't want to be taken away, tortured and chopped into pieces.
"I wanted a quick death - a soldier's death.
"I heard a voice, 'Stand back, stand back', and the metallic click-click
of a firing pin striking against an empty round.
"I thought, f***, what a way to go, to be shot with your own bloody gun.
"I knew it was my Ruger.
"Another voice spoke. It was older.
"The voice said to the mob: 'All back, all back'.
"I was hauled to my feet. Four men dragged me to a car and threw me into
the back seat.
"The mob couldn't get me off the motorway fast enough.
"As we drove, two men in the back beat me mercilessly.
"I could hear the crack and thud of fists on flesh, but I no longer felt
any pain.
"I was drifting in and out of consciousness, then suddenly the car
screeched to a halt.
"'F***, the peelers. They are everywhere'.
"The RUC had arrived in the nick of time and put their own lives on the
line to whisk me away from that hate-filled mob.
"One young policeman tapped my shoulder and said: 'Did you hear that? You
got two of them. Isn't that brilliant?'"
Sunday Life
Written in Stone: 'Regret the hurt I caused'
By Stephen Breen
MILLTOWN murderer Michael Stone may have committed one of the most
infamous acts of Ulster's troubled history, but the feared UDA terrorist
claims he has been haunted by his actions for the last 15 years.
Although his explosive book reveals shocking new revelations about
collusion between loyalist terrorists and the security forces, None Shall
Divide Us is also his way of expressing remorse to the families of the
three men who lost their lives on that fateful day, on March 16, 1988.
"To the families of Thomas McErlean, John Murray and Kevin Brady I am
sorry for your loss.
"I am sorry that you never got to say goodbye to your son, husband,
boyfriend, father and brother because of me," he claims.
"I deeply regret the hurt I caused the families of the men I killed.
"I regret that I had to kill. I believed at the time that it was
necessary.
"There is nothing I can do to take away the pain I inflicted.
"I had killed three men I had no intention of harming, 24-hours earlier.
"When I was in court, I could still see Kevin Brady. He had a brave face.
Kevin Brady was a brave man.
"John 'Minto' Murray also had what many republicans lacked. He had guts.
He had more courage than Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness put together. I
admired him.
"He showed his true colours. He gave chase. He charged ahead. I regret
shooting him.
"I didn't choose killing as a career - killing chose me."
Stone continues: "There is nothing romantic about taking a life in defence
of your community. It is a cold and brutal act.
"When a person dies, a little part of you dies too. I want to share the
horror as a reminder that we must never look back.
"All of us must keep our eyes fixed on the road ahead, not the dark paths
behind us."
IN None Shall Divide Us, Stone claims that while being interrogated after
the Milltown attack, he signed autographs for police. "After I was rescued
by the RUC, I was taken to the City hospital. "The police wanted to know
who I was, and who I was working for. "One detective asked: 'Where are
your guns?'. "I told him I threw both weapons down the motorway
embankment, but there was still ammo in my coat. "He didn't put his hand
inside, but carefully removed a speed strip and said, 'Oh f***'. "The
speed strips were RUC issue. The detective then approached my trolley, put
the speed strip in my open palm and pressed my hand around it." "I
couldn't fight back because I was handcuffed. "I was then transferred to
Musgrave Park hospital, where they asked me about the weapons." The Ruger
was never mentioned, although they knew it was security forces-sourced.
"Then a young RUC officer passed a copy of a magazine through the bars and
asked me to sign it. "It was the RUC's in-house publication, Police Beat.
"Jack Hermon's face was on the front." The officer wanted me to sign my
name across his 'big, ugly, baldy head', but I refused. "He wouldn't go
away, so I wrote, 'Michael Stone, 1988, no surrender'. "As I was being
taken to Crumlin Road jail, I heard a girl's voice behind me." She was
young and was wearing a RUC uniform. "She planted a kiss on my cheek and
said, 'Good luck Michael Stone, you are a true loyalist'."
Let All Loyalists Unite & Fight
Republicanism
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