Jonathan Hawthorn jailed for IRA membership

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

Jonathan Hawthorn was sentenced to five years in prison for IRA membership by the Special Criminal Court on 22 October 2018. The sentence was backdated to 16 July 2018, when he went into custody. The proceedings were reported on 22 October 2018.

The three-judge court found Hawthorn guilty in July 2018 of membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the IRA, on 14 September 2016. Co-accused James Geraghty and Donal O'Ceallaigh were found not guilty of IRA membership in July and walked free.

Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy presided at sentencing, sitting with Judge Gerard Griffin and Judge Gerard Haughton. She said she was satisfied Hawthorn was a trusted member of the organisation. She considered his family circumstances and the effect of imprisonment on them as mitigating factors, and referred to his previous public order conviction in 2008.

On 14 September 2016, Hawthorn was photographed receiving a mock-up package at Dolphin House and signing for it using Geraghty's name. He was arrested later that morning with a bag containing a dummy grenade and fake Semtex.

The judge said Semtex and a grenade had been ordered on the dark web by a person who was not before the court. Under cross-examination by defence counsel Kathleen Leader, Detective Sergeant Michael Gibbons agreed that the online user who placed the order, known as Meat Cleaver, was not Hawthorn.