IRA Murder Bid Man Gets 20 Years

An IRA man turned-politican who tried to murder a part-time Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) soldier more than three decades ago has been sentenced for the attempted killing.

The DUP Fermanagh & South Tyrone representative Lord Morrow has welcomed the 20-year sentence handed out to Gerry McGeough for the attempted murder of his party colleague Cllr Sammy Brush in 1981.

IRA man McGeough was handed down the sentence for the attempted murder of the off-duty UDR soldier and postman 30 years ago.

McGeough, 52, shot Sammy Brush, now a DUP councillor, in Aughnacloy in June 1981.

He was arrested in 2007 as he left an election count centre in Omagh where he was standing as a candidate.

Speaking outside the court, Sammy Brush expressed his approval of the sentence: "I think in all honesty you have got to make sure that the message goes out loud and clear to people who would consider getting involved in terrorism that sooner or later they are going to have to pay the price," he told BBC NI.

Sammy Brush, a postman at the time, was making a delivery to a house north of Aughnacloy, Co Tyrone, when he was attacked.

He had just put a letter through the letterbox when he saw a masked gunman stepping out from an adjacent shed, turn in his direction and shoot at him from about 12 ft.

But, a bulletproof jacket he had donned before going on his rounds saved the Mr Brush's life and he returned fire with his own pistol, wounding McGeough.

The gunman was treated in Monaghan Hospital before being flown to a Dublin hospital where he was treated for a gunshot wound, but he later escaped despite being under armed guard.

Speaking today, Lord Morrow - the former Chair of the Assembly's Justice Committee - said: "Sammy Brush was someone who had decided to serve his community as a member of the UDR, but was working within the community also as a postman when Gerry McGeough attempted to murder him.

"Mr McGeough's warped beliefs lead him to believe that he was some kind of soldier, when in reality he was a terrorist and a criminal.

"Today's sentence in a criminal court demonstrates clearly that the campaign which Gerry McGeough and others engaged in was nothing other than a squalid criminal terrorist campaign which failed miserably in its attempts to force Northern Ireland out of its place in the Union.

"I am immensely proud of my colleague Sammy Brush and the dignity and bravery he has shown right throughout this trial.

"He has waited over 30 years to receive justice for the crime perpetrated against him," he said, but noted that it is very unlikely given political agreements during the Good Friday Agreement talks that McGeough will serve more than a few years.

"However, what has been achieved today is the final step in a process which has seen Mr McGeough tried in front of a criminal court and sentenced for his criminal activities."

(BMcC/GK)