To install click the Add extension button. That's it.

The source code for the WIKI 2 extension is being checked by specialists of the Mozilla Foundation, Google, and Apple. You could also do it yourself at any point in time.

4,5
Kelly Slayton
Congratulations on this excellent venture… what a great idea!
Alexander Grigorievskiy
I use WIKI 2 every day and almost forgot how the original Wikipedia looks like.
Live Statistics
English Articles
Improved in 24 Hours
Added in 24 Hours
What we do. Every page goes through several hundred of perfecting techniques; in live mode. Quite the same Wikipedia. Just better.
.
Leo
Newton
Brights
Milds

Sallins Train robbery

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Sallins Train robbery occurred in Ireland on 31 March 1976 when the Cork to Dublin mail train was robbed near Sallins in County Kildare. Approximately £200,000 was stolen. Five members of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP), Osgur Breatnach, Nicky Kelly, Brian McNally, Mick Plunkett and John Fitzpatrick, were arrested in connection with the robbery.[1]

After the failure of the authorities to produce a "book of evidence" against them, the four were released but were immediately re-arrested. During interrogation in Garda Síochána custody, all except Plunkett signed alleged confessions, presenting with extensive bruising and injuries they claimed were inflicted by members of the Gardaí.[2]

While awaiting trial, Fitzpatrick jumped bail and left the country. The trial of McNally, Kelly and Breatnach in the Special Criminal Court became the longest-running trial in Irish criminal history, at 65 days, before it collapsed due to the death of one of the three judges, Judge John O'Connor of the Circuit Court.[3]

Medical evidence of beatings was presented to the court, both during the initial trial and the second trial. The court rejected this evidence, finding that the beatings had been self-inflicted or inflicted by the co-accused. Anticipating a conviction, Kelly fled before the conclusion of the second trial. The three were found guilty, solely on the basis of their confessions, and sentenced to between nine and 12 years' prison (Kelly was sentenced in absentia).[4][5]

In May 1980, Breatnach and McNally were acquitted on appeal on the grounds that their statements had been taken under duress. The same month, the Provisional IRA claimed responsibility for the robbery.[1] Kelly returned to Ireland from the USA in June 1980, expecting to be acquitted. Instead he was incarcerated in the maximum-security Portlaoise Prison and spent the next four years proclaiming his innocence, including a 38-day period on hunger strike.[3]

After a campaign by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Amnesty International and others (including a song, "Wicklow Boy", by the popular folk singer Christy Moore), Kelly was eventually released on "humanitarian grounds" in 1984. He was given a Presidential pardon in 1992 and received £1,000,000 in compensation.[3] Breatnach and McNally were also given compensation.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Murtagh, Peter (2 October 2015). "The drama and debacle of the Sallins train robbery". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  2. ^ McGarry, Patsy (15 December 2006). While Justice Slept: The True Story of Nicky Kelly and the Sallins Train Robbery. Ireland: Liffey Press. ISBN 978-1905785049 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ a b c "Wrongly jailed for train heist". Wicklow People. 18 October 2014. Archived from the original on 3 October 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  4. ^ Cooke, Nicola (15 October 2006). "Truth about Sallins robbery". Sunday Business Post.
  5. ^ Joyce, Joe; Murtagh, Peter (1984). Blind Justice. Poolbeg Press. ISBN 0-905169-64-6.
This page was last edited on 8 December 2023, at 17:13
Basis of this page is in Wikipedia. Text is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported License. Non-text media are available under their specified licenses. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. WIKI 2 is an independent company and has no affiliation with Wikimedia Foundation.