Michael Stone (loyalist)

Michael Anthony Stone (born 2 April 1955) is a British former militant who was a member of the Ulster Defence Association, a loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland.

[6] Stone has claimed that he suspects his biological mother may have been a Catholic because of her name but added that he was baptised in the Church of Ireland by the Greggs and as such he has always self-identified as Protestant.

[25] Following Herron's death, Stone withdrew from the UDA and in January 1974 attached himself to the Red Hand Commando (RHC), a loyalist group that also operated a Braniel unit under Sammy Cinnamond.

[28] According to Martin Dillon, Stone also held membership of Tara, an anti-Catholic and anti-communist organisation led by William McGrath, a close associate of RHC leader John McKeague.

[29] Dillon also argues that Stone had actually joined the RHC at an earlier date and held simultaneous membership of the other groups, Tara and the UDA.

On 16 March 1988 Stone staged a single-handed attack upon a collective Provisional IRA funeral which was being held at Milltown Cemetery in West Belfast for three IRA members shot dead ten days earlier by the Special Air Service in a failed car bombing attack they had tried to stage in Gibraltar.

As the coffins were being buried, Stone, who had entered the mourning crowd pretending to be a part of it, attacked the assembly with multiple RGD-5 grenades and gunfire from two handguns.

After a subsequent foot chase through the cemetery grounds, with Stone throwing hand grenades and firing at his pursuers, he was caught and overpowered.

He was beaten and there was an attempt to kidnap him using a car before the RUC arrived on the scene and forced the crowd off of Stone (who was now semi-conscious from the beating he had sustained) and arrested him.

[46] Alongside the other four, he met Mo Mowlam during the 1998 negotiations between the government and paramilitaries as part of the Northern Ireland peace process.

In 2004, a biography, None Shall Divide Us, was published, in which Stone claimed he had received "specialist assistance" from RUC operatives in carrying out the cemetery killings.

[52] In March 2002 it was reported in the Sunday Life that Stone and Cooper had fled Northern Ireland for France following death threats from loyalists opposed to the peace process.

The aim of those behind the threats—reported as being from the Orange Volunteers—was the eventual destruction of the Good Friday Agreement and the end of Northern Ireland's troubled peace process.

Stone was featured in the BBC2 television series Facing the Truth mediated by Archbishop Desmond Tutu where he met relatives of a victim of loyalist violence.

Although he previously admitted to the murder, Stone told his victim's widow that he had no direct responsibility, having been withdrawn after planning the attack, and refused to confirm that Dermot had not been in the IRA.

[58] Following the security breach, the building was evacuated and a British Army Bomb Disposal Unit was called to examine the suspect device.

Sir Hugh Orde, the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said "their potential for death, destruction and injury is being assessed" but added they were "fairly amateurish".

[59] On 19 December 2006, Stone's defence lawyer, Arthur Harvey, QC, claimed that the Stormont incident was not intended to endanger the life of anyone.

[59] During his trial in September 2008 on 13 charges, including the attempted murder of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, Stone repeated that his actions were "an act of performance art".

[citation needed] On 25 November 2006, Stone appeared in court in Belfast charged with attempting to murder Sinn Féin leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.

In the letter dated 24 November 2006, Stone described his "mission to Kill" Adams and McGuinness in detail, giving a description of his intended movements once inside the building.

The judge said defence evidence that Stone had been taking part in some sort of a "comic parody" was "hopelessly unconvincing" and "self-contradictory".

A legal challenge by victims' families to prevent Stone from applying for early release from prison was dismissed by the Court of Appeal.