'Real IRA leader was plotting to kill Tony Blair' court hears

The alleged leader of the Real IRA discussed the possibility of assassinating Tony Blair during meetings with an undercover FBI agent, a Dublin court was told yesterday.

Michael McKevitt, 51, the first man to be charged in the Irish Republic with directing terrorist activities, was said to have referred to a former member of the Foreign Legion, named as James Smith from Massachusetts.

According to the FBI agent, Mr McKevitt said: "If you wanted to have Tony Blair assassinated he is your man."

Mr McKevitt, who comes from Dundalk in Co Louth, is the alleged head of the Real IRA which was responsible for the car bomb attack that killed 29 people in the Co Tyrone town of Omagh in 1998.

The terrorism charge was brought against Mr McKevitt under the terms of legislation introduced in Dublin after the Omagh bombing. He is also accused of being a member of an illegal organisation.

Mr McKevitt was further said to have talked of an attack that would "overshadow" Omagh at a series of meetings with David Rupert, a US citizen who was working for the FBI and is due to be the main prosecution witness at Mr McKevitt's trial early next year.

Mr McKevitt was alleged to have told a meeting attended by Mr Rupert that the Omagh bomb was fused by the Real IRA but the target had been selected by another group, the Continuity IRA.

Those reported comments emerged at a preliminary hearing at Dublin's Special Criminal Court in connection with the disclosure of documents in the case. Mr Rupert's evidence is to be contested by the defence.

The hearing was attended by two witnesses from the US – the assistant director of the counter terrorism section of the FBI and a field officer.

The court is expected to hear from Britain's ambassador to Ireland, Sir Ivor Roberts, the first such involvement of an envoy based in Dublin.

Mr McKevitt, balding, wearing glasses and carrying a notebook and a pen, blew a kiss towards his wife Bernadette Sands-McKevitt – sister of the IRA man Bobby Sands, who died after a hunger strike in Northern Ireland in 1981 – as he was led into the court.

His arrival prompted an outburst from Laurence Rush whose wife, Elizabeth, died at Omagh. Mr Rush shouted: "My name is Laurence Rush. I will see you get justice for murdering my wife." Ironically Mr Rush then went to sit in the gallery of the court, next to Ms Sands-McKevitt.

Hugh Hartnett, counsel for the defence, made it clear that important questions would be raised over the credibility of the prosecution's American witness. He referred to investigations made against Mr Rupert over allegations of smuggling aliens and drugs in the United States

George Birmingham, for the prosecution, said Mr Rupert arrived in Ireland in 1992 with his girlfriend, a political activist from Florida with a strong Irish nationalist interest. He met senior members of Sinn Fein and its military wing the Continuity IRA. When police learnt of his presence they contacted the FBI and as a result Mr Rupert was called in to gather intelligence.

The hearing continues.