A man serving a nine-year sentence for a fatal stabbing has been remanded for sentence for his role in the Mountjoy Prison siege in January 1997. Eddie Ferncombe was also serving two years for assaulting a prison officer in Limerick jail and took part in the siege for being refused leave at Christmas 1996 at the last moment.
A syringe filled with hepatitis B infected blood was used in the siege and Dublin Circuit Court was told the blood might also have contained hepatitis C infection. Two of the hostages were also threatened with strangulation.
Ferncombe (26), of Harelawn Drive, Clondalkin, is the second man in two days to plead guilty to falsely imprisoning a prison officer at Mountjoy on January 4th, 1997. Four other similar charges were taken into account. Eamonn Seery (33), of Coultry Road, Ballymun, pleaded guilty to a similar charge on Tuesday, and had four other charges taken into account.
Judge Cyril Kelly adjourned sentence on Ferncombe and Seery to December 21st. It would serve both justice and the defendants best, he said, to adjourn sentence until the outcome was known of a trial in November of other men allegedly involved in the siege.
Det Insp Hubert Collins said six prisoners took part in the siege after their pre-planned rooftop protest at the recreation hall of the Mountjoy Prison Separation Unit failed. It began at 6.20 p.m. on January 4th, 1997 and ended peacefully after negotiations at 11.30 p.m. on January 6th.
Ferncombe was seen breaking through a false ceiling in the recreation area with another prisoner at about 6.20 p.m. on January 4th but they found the roof was solid concrete. The six prisoners had been seen meeting just before that. When they failed to get on to the roof they took five prison staff hostage. One was released after 30 minutes but the rest were held for almost 53 hours during which they were subjected to threats and assaults.
Det Insp Collins told Mr Desmond Dockery, prosecuting, that the prisoners had said initially it was to be a peaceful protest but they were armed with a knife, which Ferncombe had at the start, syringes and iron bars. They swapped the weapons between them during the siege.
Ferncombe and another prisoner had forced a prison officer to hand over the key of the recreation area door which they then locked from the inside. Another prisoner walked around squirting blood from a syringe.
During the early part of the siege, one prison officer was tied to a chair. A rope made of shoelaces was placed around his neck and connected to the door, so the victim could have been strangled or seriously injured if the door was opened. Another rope from sheets was placed around two prison officers tied back-to-back on a chair on top of a table. This rope was connected also to the door and to a radiator with the same strangulation possibility if the door was opened.
Det Insp Collins agreed with Mr Brendan Grogan SC, for Ferncombe, that as the siege continued, one prison officer believed Ferncombe was distancing himself from some of the others. The prisoners had panicked after failing to get on to the roof and made a lot of demands mainly seeking assurances about their own safety when the siege ended. Ferncombe had not made syringe threats or struck anyone and three other prisoners were the most violent.