Last week the British Supreme Court quashed two convictions I had received in 1975 for attempting to escape from Long Kesh internment camp. It was a long ten year battle. The case also revealed the fact that the British government at the highest level knew that I was unlawfully interned before the two trials. They also knew that up to 200 other internees were also likely to have been unlawfully detained. In typical fashion the British government chose to allow my trials to take place and never informed any of the internees that they too were wrongfully imprisoned.
Escapes and escape attempts from British and Irish prisons have long been part of the Irish experience.In the most recent period of conflict it is estimated that at least 100 republican POWs escaped from British prisons. Republican political prisoners see it as their duty to try and escape and return to the struggle.
In this podcast I thought I would tell you of my first escape attempt on Christmas Eve 1973.