MICHAEL Stone, the Loyalist killer, planned to slit the throats of the Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness in a dramatic assassination when he attacked Stormont in 2006, a court heard yesterday.
Stone, 53, plotted to kill them in front of the television cameras inside the Northern Ireland Assembly chamber on the November day Mr McGuinness was designated as deputy first minister, it is claimed. However, his plan was foiled when he was detain
ed by security staff at the entrance to Parliament Buildings.
He considered the Sinn Fein leaders to be "republican war criminals" who did not deserve to be in government, the court was told. Stone has denied a total of 14 charges at Belfast Crown Court, including attempted murder and claims that his attack was "performance art".
He was also charged with possessing home-made explosives and an imitation gun with intent, carrying a garrotte, three knives and an axe and assaulting staff members who trapped him in the revolving doors at Stormont.
Charles Adair, QC, prosecuting council, said that after being arrested, Stone said: "My intention was to walk into the debating chamber and look for where Adams, McGuinness and Sinn Fein were sitting. I would have lobbed several nail bombs to cause confusion. I planned to stab Adams and McGuinness and cut their throats."
The court heard that Stone told police: "I see Adams and McGuinness as republican war criminals. Adams and McGuinness don't deserve to be in a devolved government. It would be a bastardisation of democracy." Stone said of the prospect of republicans being in government "I just can't handle it", the QC said.
Mr Adair said that Stone, who suffers severe arthritis and walks with a stick, spent two hours working his way through the Stormont grounds to the entrance of Parliament Buildings.
He was first spotted by a security guard spray-painting on the front of the buildings the words "Sinn Fein, IRA, war". When the guard challenged Stone, the court heard, he pulled a gun, which was a replica, and pointed it into the man's face, saying: "You had better f****** run or you're a dead man." The security guard ran in a zigzag fashion to the east end of the building, where he raised the alarm.
While he was doing so, Stone tried to enter the main revolving door, but was trapped by Sue Porter, a security guard who recognised him, Mr Adair said.
He had a bag with him which he dropped and used a lighter to light what appeared to be a fuse, which started to sparkle, the court heard. He flung the bag into the entrance hall shouting that a bomb would go off. Mr Adair said that Stone was kneed in the groin and the imitation firearm wrestled from him by Ms Porter and another security guard.
Stone shouted: "F****** evacuate. It will go off," the court heard. Ms Porter responded: "You will go up with it." Stone responded: "What the f***."
Stone told her that the bomb would go off in five minutes but the device never went off and is believed to have malfunctioned, having got damp during the torrential rain that fell that day, the court heard.
After Mr Adair completed his opening statement, the case was adjourned for a week. Stone has been in custody since the incident when the government cancelled the early release he received under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement following his life sentence for a triple murder. In 1988, he launched a gun and grenade attack on the republican funeral of three IRA members shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar.
The full article contains 619 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
