'Blackmail plot used IRA's name to demand £120,000'

TWO former IRA prisoners tried to blackmail a pair of businessmen in Britain they accused of making £6 million by using the terror organisation's name during their dealings, a court was told today.

The two businessmen were accused of benefiting from "the name of the IRA" and told to pay £120,000 compen- sation, the prosecution said. They suffered menacing phone calls and received letters signed P O'Neil - the IRA's signature and nom de guerre.

One of the businessmen - neither of whom can be named for legal reasons - had strong Sinn Fein links and provided logistical support for republican leaders negotiating with the British Government in the late Nineties.

In the Southwark crown court dock is Ronald McCartney, 55, who was jailed in 1976 for attempting to murder policemen in Britain, possessing firearms and plotting to cause explosions.

Alongside him is Nicholas Mullen, who was sentenced to 30 years in 1990 for conspiracy to cause explosions. Mullen, now 60, was released in 1999 when the Court of Appeal quashed his conviction, principally because he had been unlawfully returned to Britain from Zimbabwe to face trial.

The third defendant is Louis O'Hara, 43, originally from West Ireland.

Mark Heywood, for the prosecution, told the court that the blackmail demands had been made in March and April last year. "The defendants and others entered into an unlawful agreement to extort money from the victims by making threatening and menacing phone calls and sending letters to each of their homes demanding payment of £120,000.

"It's difficult to imagine a more concentrated kind of threat than that purported to come from a paramilitary organisation like the IRA."

McCartney, of Belfast, Mullen, of Acton, and O'Hara, of Loughton, Essex, deny two charges of conspiracy to blackmail.

The case continues.

The case continues.