Thomas McMahon (born 1948) is a former

volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

in the South Armagh Brigade of 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 ...

(IRA), and was one of the IRA's most experienced bomb-makers. McMahon was convicted of the murder of

Lord Louis Mountbatten Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of Germa ...

and three others off the coast of

Mullaghmore, County Sligo Mullaghmore () is a village on the Mullaghmore Peninsula in County Sligo, Ireland. It is a holiday destination with a skyline dominated by Benbulben mountain. It is in the barony of Carbury and parish of Ahamlish. History From the 17th to ...

, in the west of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

IRA activity

McMahon planted a bomb in ''Shadow V'', a fishing boat owned by Mountbatten at Mullaghmore, County Sligo, near

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 ...

. Lord Mountbatten was killed on 27 August 1979 by the bomb blast along with three other people: Doreen Knatchbull (Mountbatten's elder daughter's mother-in-law); his grandson Nicholas Knatchbull; and a 15-year-old crewmember Paul Maxwell. McMahon was arrested by the Gardaí (the Republic of Ireland's police force) 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 ...

on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle two hours before the bomb detonated. The IRA claimed responsibility for the bombing in a statement released immediately afterwards that said: "This operation is one of the discriminate ways we can bring to the attention of the English people the continuing occupation of our country." McMahon was tried for the assassinations in the Republic of Ireland, and convicted by forensic evidence supplied by James O'Donovan that showed flecks of paint from the boat and traces of nitroglycerine on his clothes. Although he was convicted of murder on 23 November 1979 and sentenced to life imprisonment, he served less than 20 years because he 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 ...

After prison

After his release,

Toby Harnden Toby is a popular, usually male, name in many English speaking countries. The name is from the Middle English vernacular form of Tobias. Tobias itself is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew טוביה ''Toviah'', which translates to ''Good i ...

in ''Bandit Country'' reported that McMahon was holding a

tricolour A tricolour () or tricolor () is a type of flag or banner design with a triband design which originated in the 16th century as a symbol of republicanism, liberty, or revolution. The flags of France, Italy, Romania, Mexico, and Ireland were ...

in the first rank of the IRA colour party at a 1998 IRA meeting in

Cullyhanna Cullyhanna () is a small village and townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The village extends further over the townlands of Tullynavall and Freeduff. It had a population of 306 in the 2001 Census. It is within the Newry and Mourne Distri ...

. However, according to a BBC report, McMahon has said that he had left the IRA in 1990. He has twice refused to meet Paul Maxwell's father, John, who has sought him out to explain the reasons for his son's death. In an interview for ''The Telegraph'' in 2009, Maxwell stated that he had "made two approaches to McMahon, the first through a priest, who warned me in advance that he thought there wouldn't be any positive response. And there wasn't. I have some reservations about meeting him, obviously – it might work out in such a way that I would regret having made the contact. On the other hand, if we met and I could even begin to understand his motivation. If we could meet on some kind of a human level, a man to man level, it could help me come to terms with it. But that might be very optimistic. McMahon knows the door is open at this end." His wife has stated, "Tommy never talks about Mountbatten, only the boys who died. He does have genuine remorse. Oh God yes." As of 2009, McMahon was living with his wife in a hillside bungalow in Lisanisk, Carrickmacross,

County Monaghan County Monaghan ( ; ga, Contae Mhuineacháin) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Ulster and is part of Border strategic planning area of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County C ...

. He has two grown sons. He helped with

Martin McGuinness James Martin Pacelli McGuinness ( ga, Séamus Máirtín Pacelli Mag Aonghusa; 23 May 1950 – 21 March 2017) was an Irish republican politician and statesman from Sinn Féin and a leader within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during ...

's presidential campaign in 2011, erecting posters for McGuinness around Carrickmacross, and also canvassed for Sinn Féin's

Matt Carthy Matt Carthy (born 19 July 1977) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cavan–Monaghan constituency since the 2020 general election. He previously served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for th ...

in the 2014 European Parliament elections.

References

Bibliography

Mountbatten murder suspects on leaked list
from '' Irish Independent'', 4 January 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:McMahon, Thomas 1948 births Living people Bombers (people) Irish nationalist assassins Irish mass murderers Irish people convicted of murder Irish prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Irish republicans People from County Monaghan Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the Republic of Ireland Provisional Irish Republican Army members Republicans imprisoned during the Northern Ireland conflict