Nessan Quinlivan (born 1965), is a former

Provisional IRA 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 reunif ...

member who escaped from

Brixton Prison HM Prison Brixton is a local men's prison, located in Brixton area of the London Borough of Lambeth, in inner-South London. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. History The prison was originally built in 1820 and opened ...

in London on 7 July 1991 along with his cellmate Pearse McAuley, while awaiting trial on charges relating to a suspected IRA plot to assassinate a former brewery company chairman, Sir

Charles Tidbury Sir Charles Henderson Tidbury, DL (26 January 1926 – 3 July 2003) was an English brewing executive, who was Chairman of Whitbread and President of the Institute of Brewing. Early life and military career Charles Henderson Tidbury was born i ...

. In April 1993, he was arrested in the Republic of Ireland, on firearms charges, and was sentenced to four years in prison. In November 1996, he was released from Portlaoise Prison as part of the Irish government's early release programme for republican prisoners. In April 2000, the High Court stated that he should be extradited to Britain, to face charges of conspiracy to murder and to cause explosions as well as escaping from prison and wounding with intent. Quinlivan claimed that it would be pointless to extradite him, because under the terms of the

Belfast 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 Nor ...

, he would have had to be freed by July 2001. In August 2009, the

Crown Prosecution Service The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal ad ...

in Britain announced it was no longer seeking the extradition of Quinlivan and McAuley. His brother Maurice is a

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

TD for

Limerick City Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

. In early 2009 the arrest of three women, who were running a brothel in an apartment Nessan Quinlivan owned and was leasing to them, triggered a series of events that would lead to the resignation of the Minister of Defence

Willie O'Dea Willie O'Dea ( ; born 1 November 1952) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Limerick City constituency since 2011, and previously from 1982 to 2011 for the Limerick East constituency. He has served as M ...

References

1960s births Escapees from England and Wales detention Irish male criminals Irish escapees Irish republicans Living people People from Limerick (city) Provisional Irish Republican Army members Republicans imprisoned during the Northern Ireland conflict {{Ireland-bio-stub