Gang defeated by luck and judgement: IRA's ruthless image was dented by the gasworks bombers. Ian MacKinnon reports

THE mystique of the IRA as a ruthless, efficient terror group able to strike at will lost some of its lustre as the events surrounding the bombing of the Warrington gasworks unfolded over five weeks at the Old Bailey.

The active service unit travelled to the site, bombs primed, in a van police sources described as a 'shed'. One of the bombs was planted against a water tank. Another failed to breach the skin of a high-pressure gas tank.

The gang at one point appeared lost, arousing police suspicions. They abandoned a hijacked car believing it was out of petrol because the 18-year-old kidnapped motorist locked in the boot pulled out a wire to the petrol gauge.

As to the personalities, the hardened IRA cell seems less than efficient. The organiser, Pairic MacFhloinn, has a long republican history, but is 40, suffers Crohn's disease and is 5ft 1in tall. His accomplice, Michael Timmins, who was never caught, may have been only 18.

That they were forced to rely on two others they met only a day earlier is also telling. John Kinsella, 49, a petty criminal known as 'Dublin John' in Nottingham, where he lived for 30 years, bragged about his IRA sympathies after a few drinks. His nephew, Denis Kinsella, had no republican background.

To dismiss the team as incompetent bunglers, though, might be a mistake. Three weeks later another IRA cell bombed Warrington town centre, killing Johnathan Ball, three, and Tim Parry, 12.

Only a combination of luck and judgement meant that the events at the gasworks on 26 February last year turned out rather differently. No one was hurt in the blasts and ultimately three of the four-man team were caught.

Before that moment the plan had gone smoothly. MacFhloinn, convicted of IRA membership in Ireland in 1975, was brought to Nottingham by Denis Kinsella's father, also Denis, in the lorry he often drove to the continent. A telephone message to his son fixed a meeting in the car park of the Yorkshire Upholstery Company. It was here he usually handed over smuggled cigarettes.

But this time the cargo carried by Denis, a long-time republican sympathiser, was more deadly. He is thought to have told his son, living in England for five years, it was time to do his bit for the Nationalist struggle and MacFhloinn was left in his charge. Both picked up Timmins from Nottingham railway station next morning.

Detectives believe MacFhloinn and Timmins spent that day making bombs. John Kinsella buried a holdall containing 7.5kg of Semtex, timers, detonators, a sawn-off shotgun and an automatic pistol.

A police source said: 'There is no doubt this was a terrorist cache and would have been used again to carry out terrorist explosions somewhere else in the UK.'

Denis Kinsella drove them to Warrington in his Mazda van. He waited while they planted three 2.5kg bombs and incendiaries inside Longford gas works.

Five hours later, only one of the low-pressure holders exploded sending a ball of flame 150ft into the air. But in the worst scenario one bomb, under high-pressure 'bullet' tanks, could have enveloped the nearby housing estate in burning gas.

Except for the vigilance of PC Mark Toker, 25, they would probably have got away. He noticed the van stopped at a green traffic light, apparently lost, and questioned them for 20 minutes.

They remained cool until PC Toker said he wanted to search them. MacFhloinn then drew a 9mm automatic pistol and fired five shots, three hitting PC Toker. A nurse who happened to be near by stemmed the bleeding as the van sped off.

They then hijacked a green Ford Escort driven by Lee Wright, 18, who was bundled into the boot. But again their luck failed and they were spotted in Manchester and followed by police, who were fired on by Timmins.

Hearing the shots Mr Wright pulled some wires, one leading to the fuel gauge. MacFhloinn was caught immediately and Kinsella shortly afterwards, but Timmins was never found.

(Photographs omitted)