Paul Ward, the first man to be convicted for the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin, has been jailed for 12 years for his part in the 1997 Mountjoy prison siege.
Judge Kieran O'Connor said prison officers had been subjected to psychological terror from which they may never recover. He rejected defence submissions that Ward had a minor role in the riot and described his behaviour as "despicable".
Ward, (35) of Windmill Park, Crumlin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to false imprisonment of a prison officer. He was on remand at the time, on a charge of conspiracy to murder Ms Guerin. Judge O'Connor said the motivation for the prisoners' attempted rooftop protest was "quite bizarre" and may have been sparked by a similar riot in England a short time before.
He said he had always known prison officers to act with courtesy and respect to prisoners when they appeared before the courts. He told Ward he should reflect on times past when prisoners were forced into serious hard labour and were "abused" in prison. While the prison officers suffered no physical violence, the psychological pain endured was probably worse. Ward carried a blood-filled syringe during the riot and threatened to hang prison officers unless he was given chocolate. A syringe recovered after the siege was found to contain blood infected with hepatitis C.
Det Insp Hubert Collins told the court that five prison officers working in the separation unit in Mountjoy were taken hostage by six prisoners on January 4th, 1997, after an attempt to mount a rooftop protest failed.
The prisoners had broken through the false ceiling in the separation unit but were prevented from reaching the roof by a secure concrete ceiling. They were armed with two blood-filled syringes, an iron bar and a makeshift razor.
Witnesses reported that Ward held one of the blood-filled syringes as well as sheets and duvet covers used to make a rope. The rope was tied from a wall-pipe to a door-handle to prevent the door to the separation unit being opened. One officer was released after half-an-hour, and the other four were held for 53 hours.
On the second day of the siege, a rope made of shoelaces was pulled around a prison officer's neck. One end was tied to a radiator pipe and the other to a door. Det Insp Collins said this door was locked but if there had been an attempt to force it open the prison officer would have been choked.
He said that the following day, Sky News broadcast a report that Ward was the ringleader of the gang. Ward told negotiators he would start beating the hostages unless the news report was changed. Det Insp Collins said he also threatened to stab a prison officer with a blood-filled syringe unless he was given a copy of the Irish Independent. The prison officer was so scared, he begged Ward to break every bone in his body rather than stab him with the syringe.
Defence counsel Mr Patrick MacEntee SC said his client had given him "explicit and full instructions" to apologise unreservedly to all the prison officers involved, as well as to their families and anyone affected by the riots.
After sentence was imposed, Mr MacEntee told the court that Ward had effectively been jailed for 14 to 15 years because the sentence had not been back-dated. Judge O'Connor said he had thought for a long time about the appropriate sentence and rejected Mr MacEntee's claims that Ward had not carried a syringe during the siege. He refused leave to appeal.