Michael McKevitt
Michael McKevitt (4 September 1949 – 2 January 2021) was an Irish republican paramilitary leader. He was the Provisional Irish Republican Army's Quartermaster General. In 1997, he created the Real Irish Republican Army, a splinter group, in protest at the PIRA's ceasefire that year. He was in charge of the RIRA during the Omagh bombing of 1998. In 2003 in Dublin, he was convicted of directing terrorism as its leader. He was also convicted of membership of an illegal organisation. He was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. He was released in 2016.[1][2]
McKevitt was born in County Louth, Republic of Ireland. He was married to Bernadette Sands McKevitt, a sister of furniture shop bomber, hunger striker and member of parliament Bobby Sands. McKevitt died on 2 January 2021 from cancer, aged 71.[3]
References
- ↑ Real IRA Leader Jailed. CBS News. 7 August 2003. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/real-ira-leader-jailed/.
- ↑ Harnden, Toby (1999). Bandit Country. Hodder & Stoughton. pp. 188–189. ISBN 0-340-71736-X.
- ↑ Former Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt dies following illness