Stone: A shadow of his former self, the former hitman hobbled to the dock

Local & National

Stone 'intended to slit the throats' of Sinn Fein leaders

Emily Moulton watched as one of Northern Ireland's most notorious killers went on trial once more

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Dressed in a blue stone-wash denim jacket, white T-shirt and blue denim jeans, Michael Stone, the former loyalist hitman who is responsible for one of the most notorious atrocities in the history of the Troubles, looked like a shadow of his former self as he hobbled into the dock of Belfast's Crown Court yesterday.

Gone was the bravado of the man who callously pelted grenades during the funerals of three IRA members shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar a few days earlier, killing three people and injuring 60 others at Milltown Cemetery.

Instead, a greying 53-year-old man using a crutch for support limped into the courtroom for the opening proceedings of the five-week trial, where he is accused of trying to assassinate Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness during his failed attempt to storm Parliament Buildings in November 2006.

As the trial got under way, the loyalist paramilitary, who is facing 14 charges in relation to the attack including possession of explosives, knives and an imitation firearm, spoke only to confirm his name and did not show any emotion as Crown prosecutor Charles Adair QC began to list the events of that morning.

He barely batted an eyelid when Mr Adair spoke of how a female security guard had to "knee" him in the groin to remove his imitation fire arm when he tried to force his way through the revolving doors at Stormont, or when Mr Adair told the court that Stone had told police that his sole purpose for being on the grounds that day was to "slit the throats" of the Sinn Fein members.

He remained quiet as the prosecution began to tear into his defence that his actions were "performance art".

The prosecution contended Stone had planned his attack well in advance and even went to the extraordinary length of testing "similar" devices in the lead-up the incident at Stormont.

Mr Adair also revealed that during police interviews Stone told them that he actually planned to give himself up once he completed his mission.

Not one to shy away from the media spotlight, Stone hardly looked over at the two press desks that had been assembled on either side of the courtroom, preferring just to stare blankly ahead as more details of his plan were revealed.

The prosecution emphasised how Stone had repeatedly told police that he was acting alone that morning and was now a "dissident loyalist freelance" and could not "handle" the thought of Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness being part of a power sharing government branding it as a " bastardisation of democracy".

As Mr Justice Deeny adjourned yesterday's packed proceedings, Stone was led away by a male and female prison officer.