[15] His decision to leave the army had been prompted by the offer of a well-paid job at a local factory near his home in Penybryn, however the site closed soon after due to an economic downturn.

The bill, put forward by the Liverpool Corporation, proposed flooding the Tryweryn Valley and the community of Capel Celyn to create a reservoir in order to increase the water supply for the North-West of England.

[28] Jenkins clashed with Walters and Pritchard early on after discovering that the MAC had previously looked to obtain arms from Libya and other similar nations which had hoped to cause disruption in Britain.

He feared that arming the MAC would see them considered in the same vein as the Irish Republican Army, commenting "Shooting people  ... was all very well, but it would not have earned the hearts and minds that I thought a campaign of militant activity should be all about.

These prospective members were watched by MAC operatives for months at a time to determine their reliability, before being approached innocuously by Jenkins over a period of weeks in a social setting where he would conduct a covert interview, gauging the reaction of the person.

These training sessions usually took place in secluded woodlands or even pub car parks and would involve Jenkins showing the recruit the basic assembly methods.

"[34] The Aberfan disaster, coming so closely after the perceived injustices of the Tryweryn Bill and the construction of the Clywedog Reservoir, prompted an acceleration in the MAC's operations and Jenkins subsequently cancelled his membership of Plaid Cymru, believing that their response to these events was unsatisfactory.

"[34] In February 1966 members of the Free Wales Army (FWA), also founded in the recent upheaval, approached the MAC to build an explosive device to be used in targeting the Elan Valley water pipeline that supplied Birmingham.

During this period, the announcement of the Investiture of Prince Charles was made, scheduled to take place two years later at Caernarfon Castle, prompted Jenkins' decision that the MAC were ready to make their first moves in selecting targets and carrying out operations.

[45] The successful bombing of the Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant pipeline suggested to Jenkins that the use of explosives was the best way to attract the significant media attention that the organisation wanted, encouraging him to pick further targets.

[52] The device consisted of only a small amount of explosives, around 4 pounds (1.8 kg), due to the close proximity of the owner's home and was intended, Jenkins said, as a "symbolic protest".

[51] Their next target was a tax office in Llanishen; Jenkins and Alders delivered a 10-pound (4.5 kg) explosive device to Cardiff MAC members a week before the attack, which took place on 24 March 1968.

In response, he scheduled a secret press conference,[57][58] in which three journalists, Emyr Jones of the Wrexham Leader, Harold Pendlebury of the Daily Mail and freelance writer Ian Skidmore,[59][60] were allowed into a darkened room where Jenkins sat.

The growing threat of Welsh militancy prompted the establishment of a special police task force, led by Jock Wilson, which became known as the "Shrewsbury Unit" due to the location of its headquarters.

The first caused minor structural damage to the concrete support of a water pipeline between Lake Vyrnwy and Liverpool, although the supply itself was unaffected and Jenkins described the attack as being "botched".

The site employed full-time security and had been described as "unbreachable" but the MAC explosive device, containing 17 pounds (7.7 kg) of dynamite, was successfully detonated, causing the pipeline to shatter.

[67] Having avoided any further attacks since December, the MAC decided to target a tax office in Chester to coincide with the visit of the Duke of Norfolk, Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, to the city.

On 30 June 1969, the evening before the investiture, two members of the MAC, Alwyn Jones and George Taylor, were killed when a bomb they had been intending to place outside government offices in Abergele exploded.

[79] Another device, supplied to a cell leader in Caernarfon days beforehand, was planted in an iron forge near the castle but failed to go off; Jenkins had instructed the member to place the bomb "where it won't hurt anybody, but will cause symbolic damage.

"[79] He believed that the person instructed to plant the bomb had done so hurriedly, fearing detection with the increased police attention in the area, and failed to properly prime the device.

[79][81][82] The final bomb was placed on Llandudno Pier and was designed to stop the Royal Yacht Britannia from docking; this too failed to explode and lay undetected for several months.

Jenkins continued as the head of the organisation and the MAC carried out an attack on the South Stack Relay Station, a communications network which was a direct link between the British authorities and their soldiers operating in Northern Ireland during the 1960s.

He moved the remaining explosives that had been stolen from Hafod Quarry from the hiding place at his camp to Alders' home in Rhosllanerchrugog, fearing that the area was being searched in secret.

Williams maintained that the breach in security was made by Alders' ex-fiancée Ann Woodgate, who had grown jealous of her former partner's new girlfriend and had reported the pair to the police.

[94] Defending Jenkins, Peter Thomas QC said that his actions had been "activated by the disaster at Aberfan" and that he "was not motivated by greed, or by self-interest... but by a deep and intense concern for Wales and its future."

In his closing arguments Watkins countered that the MAC was "wedded to the use of violence, and comprised of members who scorn the ordinary peaceful methods of achieving political objectives.

Authorities attempted to extract the names of other MAC members from him, but he refused, although he did reveal the location of the unexploded device at Llandudno Pier which had lain undetected since the investiture.

His appeal was rejected, with Jenkins remarking "I knew it would be, because I was accusing the British state and establishment of having acted immorally; while, in contrast, the MAC campaign was based on morality – and that, they couldn't bloody stand.

Jenkins was brought in for questioning during the investigation and held for numerous days as police alleged that he had provided one of the suspected perpetrators, Dafydd Ladd, with the address of a safehouse.

[107] He subsequently returned to social work for Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council, a position he held for 18 months before the department was alerted to Jenkins' criminal past by a police tip-off.