LONDON: A British soldier was on Monday sentenced to 18 years in jail for stockpiling and manufacturing large amounts of weapons which he made available to dissident republicans in Northern Ireland. Ciaran Maxwell, a 31-year-old Royal Marine, had pleaded guilty to preparing terrorist acts, as well as charges of fraud and possessing cannabis with intent to sell it.
He stockpiled munitions in 43 purpose-built hides at eight locations across the province and England, including 14 pipe bombs, two anti-personnel mines, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and other bomb-making equipment. Four of the pipe bombs were deployed in Northern Ireland, two of them detonating, although without causing injuries.
He was also found with lists of key government, police and military defence locations and personnel, which prosecutors say could have been possible targets.
Maxwell was brought up as a Catholic in the town of Larne, a largely pro-British town in Northern Ireland, where he was the victim of a sectarian attack when he was 16. He denied joining the Royal Marines in 2010 with the intention of infiltrating them, saying his criminal activities only began later, through friendship with an old acquaintance in the Continuity IRA paramilitary group.