Dessie O'Hare (born 26 October 1956[1]), also known as "The Border Fox", is an Irish republican paramilitary who was once the most wanted man in Ireland.
[2] O'Hare was originally in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) but left in the late 1970s following a series of disciplinary clashes.
[3] On 8 October 1977, O'Hare and his unit killed Margaret Ann Hearst, a female part-time member of the UDR, in front of her three-year-old daughter, in Tynan, County Armagh.
[citation needed] In August 1978 O'Hare was arrested following the attempted murder of a British Army officer, who was shot at his wedding reception in County Meath.
[3] Upon his release, O'Hare found that the INLA had split into hostile armed factions, one calling itself the Irish People's Liberation Organisation, the other known as 'INLA GHQ'.
He was tortured with his ear and finger being cut off with a bolt cutter before he was shot dead and his body dumped in a rural part of the same county.
Gardaí happened on the site, but O'Hare and his gang escaped after opening fire on the Irish police and getting away by hijacking a car.
After ransom demands were not met O'Hare cut off the little finger from each of O'Grady's hands with a hammer and chisel and sent them to Carlow Cathedral.
Three weeks later on 27 November O'Hare was arrested after his car drove through an Irish Defence Forces check point in Urlingford, County Kilkenny.
[6][8] At his trial at the Special Criminal Court, O'Hare was convicted of false imprisonment, wounding with intent and possession of firearms, and received a 40-year sentence.
[21] The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) issued a statement that O'Hare will not be arrested on suspicion of involvement in up to 30 unsolved killings as the alleged offences predate the Good Friday Agreement.
[22] In December 2006 drug-dealer Martin "Marlo" Hyland was shot dead at his Dublin home, along with a plumber called Anthony Campbell who was working there.
[2] In December 2012, O'Hare served as one of the pall bearers and chief mourners at the funeral of Eamon Kelly, a leading Dublin crime boss murdered by the Real IRA in revenge for the September 2012 killing of RIRA leader Alan Ryan.
[25] In 1987 O'Hare told a journalist he was only interested in "the bomb and the bullet" and did not believe in politics, and confessed to murdering 27 people, Garda and prison officers describe him as a psychotic killer who can be charming and manipulative, and say he is an exceptional risk.
[4] During his time in Portlaoise Prison, O'Hare became a student of anthropology, psychology, metaphysics, yoga and tai chi, stating that he had found a "divine force" and gained with "this esoteric knowledge, a newer and better understanding of everything.
He has described himself as a republican socialist and cited influence from Marxism and Christianity, justifying his actions as "War brings circumstances with it that changes our normal concepts of morality.