Eddie Copeland is a prominent Irish republican from Belfast, Northern Ireland.[1]
Copeland joined the Provisional Irish Republican Army after the fatal shooting of his father by the British Army. John Copeland died on 31 October 1971, two days after being shot near his home in Strathroy Park in Ardoyne. John Copeland was not known to be affiliated with any paramilitary group.[2]
Copeland himself has been the target of loyalist paramilitaries. In December 1996 he was seriously injured in a Ulster Defence Association car bomb attack at his home.[3] He suffered leg and arm injuries but escaped with his life when loyalist paramilitaries planted a booby-trap beneath his car.[4] The bomb had been made by Frankie Curry, who had been a leading figure in the Red Hand Commandos before becoming an independent dissident.[5] Copeland later received £60,000 in compensation for the injuries he received.[6]
On 8 February 1995, Andrew Clarke (27), a private in the British Army, was sentenced at Belfast Crown Court to ten years' imprisonment for the attempted murder of Copeland when he opened fire on mourners outside the home of deceased IRA Volunteer Thomas Begley in Belfast in October 1993.[7] On 19 May 1999, the Ministry of Defence was found guilty of negligence at Belfast High Court and Copeland was awarded £27,500 compensation for the injuries he received.[8]
In 2001 Copeland was refused bail at Belfast High Court on charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment, assault and threatening to kill another person. The charges arose from the abduction of a man from a betting shop in Ardoyne. Copeland denied all charges.[1]