A man who collected information for the INLA was jailed for four years by the Special Criminal Court today.
Kevin McLaughlin (36) a father of two of New Barnsley, Belfast, pleaded guilty to collecting information in relation to the identity and movements of Mr Patrick Neville between January 1st, 2000 and April 29th, 2000, that was likely to be useful in the commission by members of an unlawful organisation of serious offences.
It was the first prosecution in any court under Section 8(1), of the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act of 1998 which makes it an offence to collect information useful to illegal organisations.
The legislation was introduced by the Government in the wake of the Omagh bombing in August 1998 in which 29 people were killed by a Real IRA bomb. The offence carries a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment.
Detective Superintendent Mr PJ Browne told the court Mr Neville was murdered on April 29th, 2000.
He said the murder was a revenge killing following an incident the previous October.
INLA member Mr Patrick Campbell was murdered during a violent confrontation between a Dublin criminal gang and an INLA gang in Dublin in October 1999, he added.
He said McLaughlin had been approached by an INLA member and asked to identify Mr Neville.
McLaughlin carried out surveillance over several months on Mr Neville.
After his arrest McLaughlin made a statement to gardaí in which he said he had identified Mr Neville to the INLA man because he was afraid he would be shot.
McLaughlin had known the late Patrick Campbell and he told gardaí he thought Mr Neville was going to get a punishment beating or be knee-capped.
"When I heard on the news that Patrick Neville was shot dead I was horrified. He may have deserved a bullet in the knee but nobody deserves to be shot dead," he told gardaí.
Sentencing McLaughlin, Mr Justice Diarmuid O'Donovan said this was the first occasion on which any court in the State had to deal with such an offence.
The judge said the court accepted McLaughlin was not himself a member of a subversive organisation and was not complicit in Mr Neville's murder.
But the judge said McLaughlin had made considerable effort in fulfilling his brief from the INLA and had recognised some harm would befall the late Patrick Neville.
PA