Savage sentence on election day
By Fern Lane
It was ironic that on the day the people of the Six Counties went
to the polls to elect representatives to the new assembly amidst
earnest expressions of goodwill and hope for new beginnings from
the British government, its judiciary was sentencing yet another
Irish republican to a 25 year jail sentence amidst howls for
blood from Conservative MPs and the right-wing British press.
Seamus McArdle, who has been systematically mistreated in
Belmarsh prison whilst on remand, was convicted at retrial on
Wednesday 24 June of conspiracy to cause explosions in relation
to the 1996 Canary Wharf bombing and sentenced the following day.
The jury were also asked to convict him for either murder or
manslaughter in relation to the deaths of two men as a result of
the explosion.
On Wednesday afternoon, however, the jury told the trial judge
that they were extremely divided and would not be able to reach a
verdict on the murder/manslaughter charges that day. In response
the judge sent jurors home for the night to consider the matter.
The decision to send them home rather than sequestering them, in
the full knowledge that the case would attract widespread media
coverage against the backdrop of the election, possibly
prejudicing the jury and thus - from the prosecution's point of
view - jeopardising the whole case, was a highly unusual one to
say the least. The judge also had to consider the difficulties
presented by the possibility of yet another retrial should the
jury, once again, fail to reach a verdict.
On Thursday, however, The Sun newspaper, in its enthusiasm to
claim the credit for the capture of McArdle, breached a court
order not to publish certain details surrounding his arrest.
Consequently, the judge was compelled to dismiss the jury and
abandon the case, telling the court that The Sun's story had left
him with no choice but to take this course of action.
Given the 25 year sentence for conspiracy, however, a conviction
or otherwise was purely academic, particularly in view of the
fact that the judge had decided at the last minute that a
conspiracy charge could actually also include murder or
manslaughter.
In the meantime, Seamus McArdle's family and legal team are
confident that, once his transfer from Belmarsh has taken place,
he will be able to benefit from the prisoner release scheme under
the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)