Two former IRA prisoners today sued the British Home Office for damages over injuries they claim were inflicted on them by prison officers during and after an unsuccessful breakout.
Mr Danny McNamee and Mr Liam McCotter - both now free men - were at the High Court in London to hear their counsel, Mr Tim Owen QC, allege that they were subjected to "excessive force" at the time of their escape bid from the special secure unit at Whitemoor prison, Cambridgeshire, in September 1994.
This included "deliberate attacks by batons, booted feet and fists, both outside and inside the prison", he told Mr Justice Crane.
They also complain that their subsequent allocation to special cells in the segregation unit was unlawful and malicious.
The pair, together with armed robber Andrew Russell, are each seeking at least £50,000 damages alleging battery and misfeasance in public office.
There was intense armed security at the court for 38-year-old Russell, who is not due for release until next year and sat in the dock handcuffed to a prison officer.
He made headlines in 1987 as one of a team that hijacked a helicopter for a jailbreak at Gartree in Leicestershire.
Mr McNamee, 40, was convicted for playing a part in the July 1982 Hyde Park bombing. He was freed under the Belfast Agreement and his conviction was overturned in December 1998.
Mr McCotter, 37, was jailed for 15 years in June 1988 for conspiracy to cause explosions.
The British Home Office denies liability and argues that all the injuries resulted from their actions in escaping or from the application of reasonable force to effect their restraint and arrest.
PA