Friday, November 24, 2006

Stone Cold Stone Storms Stormont

What is the 6 counties coming to? A former loyalist gunman and leader of the UFF(Long Kesh branch) today tried to blow up that bastion of Unionist ascendancy, Stormont Castle, apparently in protest against the resumption of talks on devolution.

20 minutes into the proceedings shouting "No Surrender, No Surrender, No Surrender", murderer of six and father of nine (at the last count) Michael Stone Cold Stone burst into the assembly with a knife, a gun and a bagful of bangers left over from Guy Fawkes' night. Did no one tell him that old Guy was a Taig, for heavens sake? He was overpowered by unarmed security staff and taken away by the police.

Chief constable Sir Hugh Orde branded the action "a sad publicity act by a very sad individual". I hope they don't take those comments into account when they revoke his licence and send him back to the pokey for the rest of the century.

Stone was sentenced in 1989 to 684 years for six murders and five attempted murders including the notorious Milltown cemetary massacre. He was released in 2000 under the terms of the Good Friday agreement. Stone was much criticised in Loyaist circles for his support for the agreement which got him off the porridge just a few years shy of serving his full sentence.

Smacks a bit of cherry picking that, Mickaleen, me old mate: "Release me 674 years early, excellent! Proceed with the democratic process, I don't think so!"

I guess Johnny Adair wasn't the only mad dog in loyalist ranks.

1 comment:

CW said...

Stone was always a bit of a loose cannon, but this latest publicity stunt is bizarre. He was quoted in an interview as announcing "my war is over", implying that after his release he intended to live a quiet life and carry on with his painting, a hobby which he has made a small fortune from. However I don't think his latest spraycan masterpiece on the wall of Stormont castle will be worth much. Nevertheles he'll presumably have a lot more time to paint over the next few years. You couldn't make it up.

An alternative headline could have been "Stormont security guards leave no Stone unturned".