In June 1984 he was successful in his action to find the British Government guilty of violating the European Convention on Human Rights.
The ECHR ordered that "the United Kingdom is to pay to the applicants [Fell and Campbell], in respect of legal costs and expenses, the sum of thirteen thousand pounds sterling (£13,000), together with any value added tax that may be due."
[4] In April 1973, Fell was arrested with six others alleged to comprise an IRA unit planning a campaign in Coventry.
[citation needed] Fell was eventually sent to the top security Albany Prison on the Isle of Wight.
[8] Upon his release Fell served as a parish priest in rural Frosses, County Donegal.