Darren Weldon jailed for IRA membership

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Darren Weldon was sentenced to five years, with the final year suspended, for IRA membership at the Special Criminal Court, reported on 16 January 2017. The conviction related to membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, also known as Óglaigh na hÉireann or the IRA, on 14 October 2014. His DNA was linked to a number plate recovered after a car bomb exploded outside Newry courthouse in 2010.

The court heard that Weldon’s DNA profile matched material found on the registration plate. He was also linked in evidence to a WhatsApp message dedicated to Alan Ryan, who was killed in 2012.