A British police marksman shot dead a suspected IRA man, believing he faced death himself, an Old Bailey court heard yesterday, as officers thwarted a plot launch which the prosecution said was intended to be a "devastating" bombing campaign in London.
The evidence was given at the start of the trial yesterday of four men who are charged with conspiring to cause explosions between January 1st and September 24th last year and possessing explosives.
Mr Diarmuid O'Neill (27) was described as being "at the heart of the conspiracy" to launch a devastating bombing campaign in London, the court heard.
Mr David Waters, prosecuting, said Mr O'Neill was a vital member of an IRA active service unit preparing for the lorry bomb blitz.
He was shot by the police officer, identified only as Kilo, as police moved in to arrest him in a hotel room.
"All Kilo could see was a figure kneeling towards him. He thought he was going to be shot, so he fired. He thought he had missed and fired more shots. With the benefit of hindsight, he need not have fired, as no firearms were in the room."
The shooting came at the end of a covert surveillance operation launched by the Metropolitan Police and officers from the security services in August last year.
After six weeks a decision was taken to move in and arrest suspected members of the IRA unit before innocent people died.
They had discovered a bomb factory in a safe storage unit in Hornsey, north London, containing explosives and bombing-making equipment together with three Kalashnikov rifles, two handguns and ammunition, the prosecution alleged. '
The four men have denied the charges against them.
They are Mr Patrick Kelly (31), Mr Brian McHugh (31), Mr James Murphy (26) and Mr Michael Phillips (22).
Mr Waters alleged that Mr O'Neill had been responsible for renting a safe store at Hornsey where the explosive mixture of ammonium nitrate and sugar - disguised in bags of compost - was delivered.
He said Mr Murphy lived in Chelsea, London, and was a personal friend of Mr O'Neill.
Mr Murphy came from an Irish background, but was born in London and worked as an assistant groundsman at a school in Shepherd's Bush.
Mr Phillips lived in Crawley, Sussex, in a house shared with work colleagues and friends, and worked as a mechanical aircraft engineer.
He came from Belfast and had previous experience in engineering, including electronics training "which may have been of assistance to the project you are investigating", Mr Waters told the jury.
Mr Kelly was born in Birmingham and had lived in London for a period. Last year both he and Mr McHugh needed a base in London to be in touch with the others, he said.
Mr McHugh was the unit commander. He was in London by August and was seen with Mr Kelly on a security camera at Hammersmith Broadway station in west London on August 11th, Mr Waters said.