Courts / Dublin / Report

'Arthur Daley' car dealer jailed over dissident bomb plant

Summary

Robert O'Leary, an 'Arthur Daley' type car dealer, has been sentenced to three years' imprisonment at the non-jury Special Criminal Court for membership of an unlawful organisation, contrary to Section 21 of the Offences against the State Act 1939, as amended by section 48 of the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act 2005. O'Leary pleaded not guilty to the charge but was found guilty by the court. He had supplied a vehicle used in a dissident operation to plant a bomb under a PSNI officer's jeep in Belfast. Mr Justice Hunt initially read out a sentence of three years and six months but suspended the final six months for two years after considering O'Leary's letter to the court. O'Leary had written to the court, undertaking not to associate with militant or violent Republicanism upon release and not to come to the attention of gardaí. The court accepted the letter as a major factor in the sentencing. The judge noted that the Skoda Octavia was used to survey the area around the PSNI officer's home and was involved in planting the device. O'Leary had invented a purchaser for the car to break the link between him and the IRA operation. The court was satisfied that O'Leary sourced and purchased the car for a specific purpose and disposed of it using dubious personal details. The final sentence of three years' imprisonment was backdated to September 29, 2020, when O'Leary was found guilty. The matter was not adjourned and is now finalised at the sentence stage.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: 'Arthur Daley' car dealer jailed over dissident bomb plant. Charges or matters: a single count of membership of an unlawful organisation, contrary to Section 21 of the Offences against the State Act 1939, as amended by section 48 of the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act 2005. Procedural stage: sentence. Findings: Found guilty

When:

• August 20, 2019 Hearing Or Sentence
• June 1, 2019 Other
• June 1 Other
• September 29, 2020 Hearing Or Sentence
• August 2019 Incident
• May 31, 2019 Hearing Or Sentence
• 2020-10-16 Publication

Why: At a previous hearing, Mr Greene read from the statement of the PSNI officer, known as Officer One, who said that he would usually check underneath his Cherokee jeep but that because of builders at a neighbouring property he could not do it discreetly in the two mornings before the discovery. CNI source report

Case subjects

Places mentioned

Topics

Stage Sentence Violent Crime

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Read the original CNI report