On 14 November 1992, 3.2 tonnes of explosives was discovered during a routine check on a lorry travelling on

Stoke Newington Road Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

, part of the A10, one of the main routes between London and the north. The

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

lorry was stopped by police around 1 am; the occupants fled.

Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

Raymond Hall - a former

Royal Engineer The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

soldier and

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

veteran - chased the suspects to a residential street, Belgrade Road no.7 where he was shot twice by one of them. Shortly afterwards police arrested one man, Irish lorry driver Patrick Kelly, a member of the

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

, who was alleged to have been driving the lorry. The large amount of explosives, which was bigger than that used in the

Baltic Exchange bombing The Baltic Exchange bombing was an attack by the Provisional IRA on the City of London, Britain's financial centre, on 10 April 1992, the day after the General Election which re-elected John Major from the Conservative Party as Prime Minister. ...

earlier that year, could have caused "massive destruction". Investigations found detonation material inside the lorry as well. Officers from the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch were unable to determine the intended target, although it occurred on the day of the Lord Mayor's Show.

Arrests and convictions

In October 1993, Kelly was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison for conspiracy to cause explosions, and for the attempted murder of Hall. Kelly was suffering from skin cancer whilst in prison, but was denied medical treatment during his time in three prisons in England and Northern Ireland. Campaigners - which included MP

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

- won a case in 1996 to transfer him to a prison in

Portlaoise Portlaoise ( ), or Port Laoise (), is the county town of County Laois, Ireland. It is located in the Midland Region, Ireland, South Midlands in the province of Leinster. The 2016 census shows that the town's population increased by 9.5% to 22,050 ...

in 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 the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

, where under Irish jurisdiction he received medical treatment for his serious illness. Despite treatment Kelly died on 11 June 1997. He was buried in

County Laois County Laois ( ; gle, Contae Laoise) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medie ...

in the Republic and his funeral attended by many people from

South Armagh South Armagh may refer to: *The southern part of County Armagh * South Armagh (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency) *South Armagh (UK Parliament constituency) *Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade The South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional ...

. In 1994, English IRA member Patrick Hayes, during sentencing at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

for the

1993 Harrods bombing Background The Provisional IRA began intensifying its bombings in London in 1992. A month before the Harrods bomb, on 10 December 1992 the IRA exploded two bombs in litter bins outside the Wood Green Shopping City centre injuring four police of ...

and an attempted bombing in

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is an area of London, England, located near the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Canary Wharf is defined by the Greater London Authority as being part of London's central business district, alongside Central Lo ...

, said that he was the driver in the Stoke Newington Road incident and that Kelly was innocent, convicted because of his Irish nationality.

References

{{coord, 51.553434, -0.074844, region:GB, display=title 1992 crimes in the United Kingdom 1992 in London Provisional IRA bombings in London November 1992 events in the United Kingdom Terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom in 1992 History of the London Borough of Hackney

Arrests and convictions

See also

References