A 30-year-old Englishman, who said he was offered €10,000 to plant a bomb in Limerick city, has been jailed for 12 years.
Seán Smith, Loughmore, Mungret, Co Limerick, was finally sentenced yesterday after been convicted last month of six separate charges including possession of a car bomb which was intended to kill up to eight people.
The father of one - who also has an address in Brixton in London - was also convicted of possession of a Sterling submachine gun, possession of cortex detonating chord and possession of cocaine with a street value of more than €35,000.
The firearm, drugs and explosives were all seized by gardaí during a raid at a house in Loughmore, Mungret on June 3rd, 2003.
Mr Smith, who has 32 previous convictions, mainly for motoring offences committed in the UK, denied all of the charges. But he was convicted on all counts after a jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict at Limerick Circuit Court on January 16th last.
During the four-day trial the jury was told that Smith had refused an offer of €10,000 to plant a bomb in Limerick city, which was intended to hurt up to eight people.
Mr Smith said he was told he would be shot by a man he named as 'Skinny' if he told gardaí about the bomb. He told gardaí that he "did not go around killing innocent people" and that he did not know who the bomb was intended for, only that it would "hurt four to eight people".
Before imposing sentence yesterday, Judge Carroll Moran said the explosives and the Sterling submachine gun were all connected to an ongoing feud in Limerick city which had already claimed a number of lives.
Judge Moran said the anti-personnel bomb was to have been placed under a car and could have killed up to eight people. Smith was sentenced to 12 years for possession of the explosive device.
Judge Moran imposed further sentences of 10 years for possession of the Sterling submachine gun, 12 years for possession of the cortex detonating chord and 12 years for possession of cocaine. All sentences are to run concurrently.
Mr Smith is the second person in recent weeks to be sentenced in connection with the explosives seizure. On February 2nd Michael Scanlon, (31) St Mary's Terrace, Askeaton, was jailed for nine years after admitting having explosives and a firearm.
Scanlon pleaded guilty to possession of an explosive device, possession of detonating chord, possession of a Sterling submachine gun and possession of 294 rounds of ammunition, at Loughmore, Mungret on June 3rd, 2003.
Judge Moran said he accepted that Scanlon was a late entrant to this feud, however he still saw him as a participant.