Brothers caught making bomb in shed jailed

Two brothers who were caught making a bomb in a shed have each been handed down sentences of five-and-a-half years by the Special Criminal Court.
Colin Mannion (37) and his brother Brian Mannion (34), of Burriscarra, Clogher, Claremorris, had the final two and a half years of their sentences suspended.
Last month, the brothers pleaded guilty to the unlawful possession of explosive substances RDX, PETN, one loaded detonator, two unloaded detonators and three electrical component parts at their home on June 9, 2012.
Before handing down sentence last Thursday, Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, sitting with Judge Martin Nolan and Judge Flann Brennan, read some of the facts of the case to the court.
Inspector Gary Walsh, of Castlebar Garda station, told the court that in May 2012 an investigation concerning the unlawful possession and manufacture of explosives in relation to IRA activity was undertaken by gardaí.
Insp Walsh entered the property and the two accused men were found in the shed.
The court heard that gardaí ­preserved two separate scenes, the shed and the home of the parents of the two men.
The court previously heard Colin Mannion is a qualified tool maker with some engineering experience and Brian Mannion is a qualified plumber.
Having regard to the gravity of the offence, the judge said the maximum sentence in respect of each count was 14 years in prison.
“Thankfully due to the intervention of gardaí­ no harm resulted from these items but it is clear from the process that was underway, the finished article would have carried serious consequences. The conduct was intentional no doubt,” he said.
The judge said the court assessed that the appropriate sentence was eight years imprisonment for each of the men. However, he said that there was evidence to lessen the culpability of the two men including the fact that their involvement in this incident was for no more than two to three months and they had not been the ‘initial target’ of the surveillance operation.
Mitigation factors in sentencing, Mr Justice Hunt said, were their guilty pleas and their family circumstances.
He said that Colin Mannion and Brian Mannion do not have any relevant or serious criminal convictions and there was evidence of ‘positive good character prior to these offences’.
Colin Mannion and Brian Mannion each took the stand at the sentence hearing, where they undertook to the three-judge, non-jury court to refrain from activities in the future and not associate with members of subversive or paramilitary organisations. The judge said he was satisfied that each man’s remorse was ‘genuine’. The sentences were backdated to June 7, 2017.