Tommy McKearney

[5] His sister, Margaret, was the subject of an unsuccessful extradition attempt in 1975, when Scotland Yard described her as "possibly the most dangerous woman terrorist in Britain.

[7] He describes the introduction of internment as "the straw that broke the camel's back" and decided to join the Provisional IRA, becoming a member of the East Tyrone Brigade.

[8] On 19 October 1977 he was arrested and charged with the murder of Stanley Adams, a postman and part-time Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) lance corporal (L/Cpl) of the 8th Battalion.

He later received a life sentence with a recommended minimum term of twenty years for the murder of L/Cpl Adams, after a statement which he never signed was accepted by the court on the word of a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) Inspector.

[10] McKearney was involved in the blanket and dirty protests, and took part in the 1980 hunger strike along with other IRA members.

[11] Prior to commencing the hunger strike, McKearney told his mother and father: I'll put all my cards on the table.

McKearney called on the Provisional IRA to either return to a "ground war" against the British state or cease fighting altogether, rather than its strategy at that time of seldom but spectacular attacks.