Dessie O'Hare

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Dessie O'Hare in prison

Dessie O'Hare (born 26 October 1956^[1]), also known as "The Border Fox", is an Irish republican paramilitary, who was once the most wanted man in Ireland.^[2]

O'Hare was originally a member (volunteer) of the Provisional Irish Republican Army but left in the late 1970s following a series of disciplinary clashes.^[3] He later joined the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).^[4] Ater kidnapping a Dublin dentist and cutting off two of his fingers in 1987 he was imprisoned until 2006, when he was granted extended temporary release.^[2]

[edit] Life

O'Hare was born in Keady, County Armagh, Northern Ireland into a family with a strong republican background.^[5] His grandfather was imprisoned for six months in Holloway Gaol for "keeping republicans", and his father and six of his uncles were interned between 1940 and 1944.^[1] O'Hare joined the South Armagh Brigade of the IRA aged 16, and was part of a unit that targeted off-duty members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR). His colleagues nicknamed him "The Border Fox" following his escape from a number of shootouts with the Garda Síochána and the RUC. In 1975 he was convicted for the first time for possession of explosives, and received a suspended sentence.^[3] In October 1977 O'Hare and his unit killed Margaret Ann Hearst, a part-time UDR member, in front of her three year old daughter. The RUC and Garda also linked him to a series of murders and attacks, including the attempted murder of Ulster Unionist Party politician Jim Nicholson.^[4]

In June 1978 Billy McCaughey from the Special Patrol Group (SPG) attempted to murder O'Hare at the Rock Bar in Keady. McCaughey and three other SPG officers planned to spray the bar with gunfire then set off a 10 lb gelignite bomb, but were unsuccessful when a customer prevented them from entering the bar.^[6] In August the same year O'Hare was arrested following the attempted murder of a British Army officer, who was shot at his wedding reception in County Meath. In 1979 O'Hare was shot twice, and the Garda arrested him after a car chase through County Monaghan. The chase ended when O'Hare crashed his car through a herd of cattle and into a farmer's car, before coming to rest in a field. O'Hare broke both his ankles in the crash; his companion in the car died.^[4]^[7] At his trial in 1980 he was sentenced to nine years imprisonment for possession of a firearm; he was released in 1986.^[3]

In 1987 O'Hare and two other INLA members kidnapped John O'Grady, a dentist from Dublin, and demanded a IR£1.5m ransom.^[3] The gang had intended to seize Austin Darragh, owner of the Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, but Darragh had moved three years previously from the house, which was occupied by O'Grady, his son-in-law.^[8] He was initially held in a Dublin basement before being moved to Cork, where he was held in a cargo container. After ransom demands were not met O'Hare cut off the little finger from each of O'Grady's hands with a hammer and chisel.^[9] In a telephone call to the Garda O'Hare stated:

“

It's just cost John two of his fingers. Now I'm going to chop him into bits and pieces and send fresh lumps of him every fucking day if I don't get my money fast.^[8]

”

O'Grady eventually escaped after a shootout between the Garda and the gang, and O'Hare became the most wanted man in Ireland with the Garda offering a IR£100,000 reward for information on his whereabouts. Three weeks later on 27 November the gang were arrested trying to crash through a check point in Urlingford, County Kilkenny. O'Hare was shot eight times during the arrest, and another man in the car died.^[7]^[8]

At his trial at the Special Criminal Court, O'Hare was convicted of false imprisonment, wounding with intent and possession of firearms, and received a 40 year sentence.^[10] He was sent to the maximum security Portlaoise Prison, where he was isolated by former IRA and INLA associates who accused him of bringing republicanism into disrepute. In the early 1990s he undertook a vow of silence and did not speak for six years, and also staged a dirty protest. He later re-joined the INLA wing of the prison and became commander of the INLA inmates held there.^[9]

In 2000 O'Hare requested a judicial review, stating that he should have been released under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.^[11] On 6 April 2001 the High Court reserved judgement on the case pending information from the Department of Justice.^[12] On 8 December 2002 O'Hare was transferred to Castlerea Prison in preparation for his release, and a week later issued a statement saying his "war was over".^[13]

O'Hare was first granted temporary release from prison in November 2003 when he attended a weekend long course on conflict resolution in Glencree, and he was granted further periods of temporary release in November 2004 and March 2005.^[5]^[14]^[15] In November 2005 he was returned to Portlaoise Prison after he was caught with a mobile phone and a bag of pills when returning to Castlerea from temporary release, which jeopardised his chance of release on licence.^[16]

O'Hare launched a new High Court bid for freedom in April 2006, and was granted extended temporary release.^[17] He returned to Northern Ireland, and was believed to be living in Newtownhamilton in South Armagh.^[18] The Police Service of Northern Ireland stated O'Hare will not be arrested on suspicion of involvement in up to 30 unsolved murders because the alleged offences predate the Good Friday Agreement. However, investigations have not been ruled out by the Historical Enquiries Team, which has been assigned to probe all unsolved murders during the Troubles.^[19]

In December 2006 drug-dealer Martin 'Marlo' Hyland was shot dead at his Dublin home, along with a plumber called Anthony Campbell who was working there. Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern stated in the Dáil Éireann that a "significant former paramilitary" had been in the company of Hyland during the summer, referring to O'Hare.^[20] O'Hare's spokesman, Eddie McGarrigle of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, denied O'Hare had any involvement with the killings stating that he was working with handicapped people and a charity, and had also been an assistant to a group of pilgrims on a trip to Lourdes. McGarrigle's statement was supported by the Garda, who said there was no evidence to link O'Hare to the shootings.^[2]

[edit] Beliefs

In 1987 O'Hare told a journalist he was only interested in "the bomb and the bullet" and did not believe in politics, and confessed to murdering 26 people. Garda and prison officers describe him as a psychotic killer who can be charming and manipulative, and say he is an exceptional risk.^[4]

During his time in Portlaoise Prison, O'Hare became a student of anthropology, psychology, metaphysics, yoga and tai-chi, stating that he had found a "divine force" and gained with "this esoteric knowledge, a newer and better understanding of everything. Some fellow prisoners — and even a few jailers — have remarked that I've changed."^[9]

He has described himself as a republican socialist and cited influence from Marxism and Christianity, justifying his actions as "War brings circumstances with it that changes our normal concepts of morality. It's a tough, dirty business, caused in the first instance by the filth of corruption."^[9] Through imprisonment he developed an identification with the plight of the disabled and participated in fund-raising events for them.^[9]