Dissident jailed for 25 years for bomb attack on police officer
Sean McVeigh found guilty of planting device under car
Last updated 8th Mar 2019
A “committed dissident republican terrorist'' was jailed today (Friday) for 25 years after he was found guilty of planting a bomb under a police officer's car.
Sean McVeigh (38), of Victoria Street, Lurgan, was convicted in February of the attempted murder of the officer at his home using an under-car bomb.
The bid was foiled when the officer's wife, who is also a serving police officer, raised the alarm at their home in the Eglinton area of Co Londonderry in the early hours of June 18 2015.
A sentencing hearing last week was told during submissions from the prosecution and defence that McVeigh has shown no remorse, before the hearing was adjourned for a week while Judge Stephen Fowler considered what he had heard.
McVeigh reappeared in the dock at Belfast Crown Court on Friday morning to be sentenced.
Judge Stephen Fowler described McVeigh as a “committed dissident republican terrorist''.
He said the device which McVeigh had planted had “`one purpose, to kill anyone unfortunate enough to be in the car'' and noted that McVeigh has shown “no semblance of remorse''.
The judge said there were two potential victims, the police officer and his wife.
He said it was “entirely fortuitous'' that the planting of the bomb was disrupted and that both could have been in the car, and added that given the car was parked in a residential area there could easily have been multiple deaths.
“I have no doubt this was a terrifying ordeal for both officers,'' Judge Fowler said.
The judge sentenced McVeigh to 25 years in prison.
As McVeigh was led from the dock, a group of men in the public gallery raised their right arms with clenched fists.
After today's court case Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell said: “In the middle of the night on 18 June 2015, Sean McVeigh attempted to attach a bomb under the car of a male police officer when he was disturbed by the victim’s wife, who is also a serving officer. I
"It was simply through sheer luck that the woman woke up, looked out her bedroom window and caught Sean in the act or two police officers could potentially have been seriously injured or murdered.
“Sean McVeigh chose to attack two officers who had selflessly chosen to protect their community and keep people safe despite the ever present threat posed by dissident republicans.
"I am thankful that despite Sean’s evil intentions, he was unable to take these people away from their families and destroy numerous lives all in the name of his warped ideology."