30 Facts About Dessie O'Hare

Dessie O'Hare later joined the Irish National Liberation Army.

Dessie O'Hare was born in Keady, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, into a family with a strong republican background.

Dessie O'Hare's grandmother was imprisoned for six months in Holloway Gaol for "keeping republicans", and his father and six of his uncles were interned between 1940 and 1944.

Dessie O'Hare joined the South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional IRA at the age of 16, and was part of a unit that targeted members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and Ulster Defence Regiment.

Dessie O'Hare's colleagues nicknamed him "The Border Fox" following his escape from a number of shootouts with the Garda Siochana and the RUC.

Dessie O'Hare left the Provisional IRA in the late 1970s and joined the Irish National Liberation Army.

In 1979 Dessie O'Hare was shot twice, and the Gardai arrested him after a car chase through County Monaghan.

The chase ended when Dessie O'Hare crashed his car through a herd of cattle and into a farmer's car, before coming to rest in a field.

Dessie O'Hare broke both ankles in the crash; his companion in the car, Anthony McClelland, died.

The IPLO assassinated INLA leaders Ta Power and John O'Reilly and in revenge, Dessie O'Hare is accused of the killing of Tony McCloskey, an IPLO associate who had allegedly tipped them off as to O'Reilly and Power's whereabouts.

Dessie O'Hare was tortured with his ear and finger being cut off with a bolt cutter before he was shot dead and his body dumped in a rural part of the same county.

Dessie O'Hare is alleged to have been behind the abduction and killing.

Such was the disarray of the INLA after this internecine feuding that Dessie O'Hare broke away from the remaining INLA leadership in Belfast and set up his own group, the Irish Revolutionary Brigade, which operated in the border region out of Castleblayney.

Dessie O'Hare was initially imprisoned in a Dublin basement before being moved to Cork, where he was imprisoned in a cargo container.

The car was later found burnt out in Dundalk, but Dessie O'Hare had moved O'Grady to a house in Cabra, North Dublin.

Dessie O'Hare surfaced in Dunleer, County Louth, where he allegedly fired shots into a takeaway during an altercation with his wife.

Dessie O'Hare was shot eight times during the arrest which was effected after a fire-fight, and the driver of the car, Martin Bryan, was killed.

At his trial at the Special Criminal Court, Dessie O'Hare was convicted of false imprisonment, wounding with intent and possession of firearms, and received a 40-year sentence.

Dessie O'Hare was sent to the maximum security Portlaoise Prison, where he was isolated by former Provisional IRA and INLA associates who accused him of bringing republicanism into disrepute.

In December 1987, the INLA's political wing, the Irish Republican Socialist Party, issued a statement disassociating themselves from the kidnapping and stating that Dessie O'Hare "is not a member of the INLA".

Dessie O'Hare staged a dirty protest and re-joined the INLA wing of the prison in 1998, following the Good Friday Agreement.

In 2000 Dessie O'Hare requested a judicial review, stating that he should have been released under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

On 8 December 2002, Dessie O'Hare was transferred to Castlerea Prison in preparation for his release, and a week later issued a statement that "[his] war was over".

Dessie O'Hare was first granted temporary release from prison in November 2003 when he attended a weekend long course on conflict resolution in Glencree, and he was granted further periods of temporary release in November 2004 and March 2005.

Dessie O'Hare launched a new High Court bid for being let out of prison in April 2006, and was granted extended temporary release.

Dessie O'Hare returned to Northern Ireland, and was believed to be living in Newtownhamilton in South Armagh.

In December 2012, Dessie O'Hare served as one of the pall bearers and chief mourners at the funeral of Eamon Kelly, a leading Dublin crime boss murdered by the Real IRA in revenge for the September 2012 killing of its leader Alan Ryan.

Dessie O'Hare was reputed to have been a drinking buddy of Kelly, whom he had befriended when both were serving time in Portlaoise Prison.

Dessie O'Hare pleaded guilty to falsely imprisoning Martin Byrne at Rathcoole and Saggart on the same date.

In 1987 Dessie O'Hare told a journalist he was only interested in "the bomb and the bullet" and did not believe in politics, and confessed to murdering 27 people, Garda and prison officers describe him as a psychotic killer who can be charming and manipulative, and say he is an exceptional risk.