Belfast woman jailed over dissident republican terror documents

A Belfast woman has been jailed for four years for collecting information for dissident republican terrorists.

Fionnghuale Mary Teresa Dympha Perry, 65, of Waterville Street, was found guilty after a non-jury, Diplock-style trial at Belfast Crown Court.

The charges related to documents about a "security debrief" after police found firearms, ammunition and explosives in west Belfast.

The judge said the information she had collected was "sinister".

She was found guilty of collecting or making a record of information likely to be of use to terrorists.

Police officers searched a spare bedroom and seized a box of perfume and found "seven cigarette papers'' which contained written information about weapons and explosives in 2018.

The notes related to interviews carried out by individuals into the seizure of firearms, ammunition and explosives from the Ballymurphy house of Kevin Barry Nolan in 2015.

Nolan, who stored Semtex, guns and bullets for dissident republicans at his parents' Belfast home was jailed for three-and-a-half years in 2017.

The prosecution said the notes were a "security debrief'' into the seizure of items at Nolan's home to find out what went wrong and how police came to find them.

During the trial, Perry's defence was that she had a reasonable excuse to have the notes in her role as a journalist writing on political and security issues.

She claimed that she did not know what the notes meant and "could not make sense of them''.

Passing his judgement in March, the judge said he was "satisfied beyond any doubt that the defendant is guilty of collecting or making a record likely to be useful to a terrorist."

"I reject entirely her defence that she had a reasonable excuse for her action for possessing the information," he added.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice O'Hara said: "There are dissident republicans who, after all these years of violence and so many deaths ruined, are still committed to more deaths and more lives ruined.

"For every individual who transports or fires a gun, or makes or plants a bomb, there have to be more people who support and enable them. The defendant is one of those people.

"In terms of recording or collecting information, it is possible to think of worst cases, for instance, collecting information about the addresses and movements of police officers or other people on the grim list of so-called legitimate targets.''

The judge said the information Perry had collected was "sinister" and "of great concern''.

"Every time police police find weapons and explosives they land a blow on those who are committed to violence.

"The dissidents then respond by trying to work out what went wrong, whose fault it may have been and what steps are needed to be taken next time.

"This defendant played a role in that response in order that violence can continue.''

Perry had a conviction dating back to 1976 for hijacking a car and having a firearm with intent and was also convicted of membership of a proscribed organisation and was sentenced to three years in prison, the judge said.

"Even in her teens this conviction shows she was committed to violent republicanism," he said.

"The most recent offending comes depressingly more than 40 years later and in the same vein," he added.

Her defence had urged the judge not to send her to prison but to impose a suspended sentence because she has Multiple Sclerosis and has mental health issues.

But on Wednesday, the judge said this sentence would be "entirely unrealistic," as it failed to acknowledge "the seriousness of her offending, her criminal record from 1976 and she fought the charge and has lost any prospect of credit for pleading guilty".

He said dissident republicans must realise that "as they continue with their efforts to murder and maim they will face harsh consequences if and when they are caught, convicted and sentenced.".

After the sentencing, PSNI Det Ch Insp Hamilton said the notes that had been found in Perry's home in 2018 were "partially in code".

He said police had assessed that the notes amounted to a debriefing by a number of dissident republicans.

"It's believed this information could be of use to the New IRA, by helping them understand how those individuals had been identified," he said.

"Officers from our Terrorism Investigation Unit remain totally committed to investigating and disrupting criminal activity within our communities," he added.