James O'Donovan was the senior forensic scientist to the

Garda Technical Bureau , headquarters = Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin , formed = , preceding1 = , preceding2 = , jurisdiction = Republic of Ireland , employees = >130 , budget = Undisclosed (part of ''Garda Síochána'' budget, €1.34 billion in ...

of the Garda Síochána (the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

's police), until his retirement in 2002. He was a key witness in the

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...

assassination of Admiral of the Fleet The 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and as the target himself of Irish criminal

Martin Cahill Martin "The General" Cahill (23 May 1949 – 18 August 1994) was an Irish crime boss from Dublin. He masterminded a series of burglaries and armed robberies, and was shot and killed while out on bail for kidnapping charges. The Provisional Iris ...

Career

After gaining base science degrees in Ireland and training in Ireland, London, and the United States, he joined the civilian science service of the Garda Síochána.

Assassination of Lord Mountbatten

The 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma usually holidayed at his summer home,

Classiebawn Castle Classiebawn Castle is a country house built for The 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) on what was formerly a estate on the Mullaghmore Peninsula near the village of Cliffoney, County Sligo, in the Republic of Ireland. The current castle wa ...

, in

Mullaghmore Mullaghmore may refer to the following places in Ireland: General * Mullaghmore, County Clare, a limestone hill * Mullaghmore Peninsula, a peninsula in County Sligo ** Mullaghmore, County Sligo, a village on the Mullaghmore Peninsula * Mullaghmore, ...

, a small seaside village located on the coast of

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the an ...

in the west of Ireland. The village was only from

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, and near an area known to be used as a cross-border safe-haven by IRA members. Despite security advice and warnings from the Gardaí, on 27 August 1979, Lord Mountbatten went lobster-potting and tuna-fishing in the wooden boat, the ''Shadow V'', which had been moored in the harbour at Mullaghmore. IRA member Thomas McMahon had slipped onto the unguarded boat that night and attached a radio-controlled fifty-pound (23 kg) bomb. When Mountbatten was aboard en route to

Donegal Bay Donegal Bay (''Bá Dhún na nGall'' in Irish) is an inlet (or bay) in the northwest of Ireland. Three counties – Donegal to the north and west, Leitrim and Sligo to the south – have shorelines on the bay, which is bounded on the w ...

, the bomb was detonated just a few hundred yards from the shore. It is not known who activated the radio-controlled bomb as McMahon had been arrested earlier at a Garda checkpoint between Longford and

Granard Granard () is a town in the north of County Longford, Ireland, and has a traceable history going back to AD 236. It is situated just south of the boundary between the watersheds of the Shannon and the Erne, at the point where the N55 nation ...

. The boat was blown to pieces by the force of the blast. Mountbatten, then aged 79, was fatally wounded. He was pulled alive from the water by nearby fishermen, but died from his injuries before being brought to the shore."BBC News On This Day: 27 August"
/ref> Others killed by the blast were Nicholas Knatchbull, his elder daughter's 14-year-old son, and Paul Maxwell, a 15-year-old from

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,823 a ...

, who was a crew member. The Dowager Lady Brabourne, his elder daughter's 83-year-old mother-in-law, was seriously injured in the explosion and died from her injuries the following day. McMahon was arrested by the Gardaí two hours before the bomb detonated, having been initially stopped on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle. He was tried for the murders in the

, and convicted by forensic evidence supplied by Dr O'Donovan that showed flecks of paint from the boat and traces of

nitroglycerine Nitroglycerin (NG), (alternative spelling of nitroglycerine) also known as trinitroglycerin (TNG), nitro, glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), or 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a dense, colorless, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by nitrating ...

on his clothes.Telegraph, 9 Aug 2009
/ref> McMahon was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder on 23 November 1979, but was released in 1998 under the terms of the

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...

."1979 : IRA member sentenced for Mountbatten's assassination"
''This Day in History''. Accessed 26 January 2007

Assassination attempt by Martin Cahill

In January 1982, fearing the increasing role that forensic science could play in detecting his robberies,

had a bomb placed under the bonnet of the car of Dr. O'Donovan, at his Belgard, Dublin, home. Having suffered very serious but not life-threatening injuries, he was taken by ambulance to St. James's Hospital, Dublin. Suspicion of the plot immediately fell on both the IRA and the INLA, members of which Dr O'Donovan was due to give evidence against in the following weeks. However, evidence quickly pointed to an association with Cahill and, as a result, the Gardaí set up a Special Surveillance Unit (SSU), called the Tango Squad, to specifically target and monitor Cahill's gang on a permanent, 24/7 basis. Cahill was given the callsign Tango-1. In February 1988, a ''

Today Tonight ''Today Tonight'' is an Australian current affairs television program produced by the Seven Network. It aired from January 1995 to November 2019 in Adelaide and Perth. Editions in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne were previously produced befor ...

'' report identified Cahill as the man behind the O'Donovan bomb plot, the Beit robbery, and the robbery of O'Connors jewellery depot. As a result, PD leader

Desmond O'Malley Desmond Joseph O'Malley (2 February 1939 – 21 July 2021) was an Irish politician who served as Minister for Industry and Commerce from 1977 to 1981 and 1989 to 1992, Leader of the Progressive Democrats from 1985 to 1993, Minister for Trade, ...

raised the revelations that Cahill owned such expensive property in Cowper Downs, despite having never worked, sarcastically remarking that Cahill must have needed the extra wall space to hang his artwork by the Dutch masters. In 1994, released on bail after the failed Lacey kidnapping, Cahill was assassinated by the IRA. O'Donovan retired in 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odonovan, James Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Irish scientists Garda Síochána officers Forensic scientists