Rosena Brown
[6] Described as slim, blonde, immaculately groomed and petite,[7] Brown landed a small part in the 1983 film Acceptable Levels, which was shot on location in Belfast.
[5] She had minor roles in Ken Loach's Hidden Agenda and Richard Attenborough's Closing the Ring, and she played alongside Sinéad O'Connor in Hush-a-Bye-Baby.
[8] She also had a role in the 2004 Irish comedy Man About Dog in which she played the mother of one of the film's main characters, Mo Chara.
[3] She was described by journalist Mark Devenport as having been especially suited for intelligence work; in particular she was highly skilled at losing herself when members of the security forces were tailing her.
[4] Hanna, who was completely infatuated with Brown and later admitted that he was dominated by "a Provie woman",[10] obtained the information regarding McMichael during the latter's visits to loyalist inmates inside the Maze.
The IRA unit which planted the bomb was led by Seán Savage, who would later be gunned down by the SAS in Gibraltar in what became known as Operation Flavius.
[13] Racketeer and UDA "fundraiser" James Craig was shot dead inside an east Belfast pub by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) for allegedly setting up McMichael's assassination by the IRA.
[9] Inside the package was a list containing the names, addresses, postcodes, and car registration numbers of RUC officers, which had been copied from a police database.
[9] In that same year, 1990, Hanna was sentenced to life imprisonment for aiding and abetting the IRA in the murder of his colleague, Brian Samuel Armour, vice-chairman of the Prison Officers' Association.
Hanna allegedly provided Brown with Armour's address which enabled the IRA to plant the bomb underneath his car.
[16] After the details of her involvement with Hanna became known to the public, Brown ensconced herself in staunch republican areas of north and west Belfast.
[6] In early 1992, Brown was arrested in the seaport of Larne along with IRA volunteers Paul McCullough and Steven Canning, when a booby-trap bomb was discovered in the glove box of their car.
[6][8] On 10 September 1993, she was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment at Mourne House, the women's unit of HM Maghaberry for illegal possession of explosives and conspiracy to murder members of the security forces.
[8] Soon after her release from Maghaberry, she performed in the west Belfast theatrical production of the play, A Mother's Heart with other former IRA women prisoners.
[4] She has retained some links to republicanism and was shown in attendance at a Bobby Sands memorial event in 2009[19] as well as performing at Sinn Féin celebration for International Women's Day in 2010.
[5] Brown was portrayed by actress Rose McGowan in the 2008 crime thriller film Fifty Dead Men Walking which is based on IRA infiltrator Martin McGartland.
