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A 31-YEAR-OLD woman has been sentenced to 16 years and four months in prison for attempting to murder a police officer and other offences.
Christine Connor, from Belfast, pleaded guilty in May to attempting to murder a police officer in the Crumlin Road area of Belfast on 28 May 2013, as well as a number of other terrorism offences.
She also admitted possessing explosives and causing explosions with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property on 16 and 28 May 2013, as well as preparation of terrorist acts between 1 February and 30 May 2013.
Connor was sentenced at Laganside Court today. Speaking after the ruling, Detective Superintendent Richard Campbell from the PSNI’s Serious Crime Branch said: “Northern Ireland is a safer place with Christine Connor behind bars. She is a dangerous woman who exploited others to further her own twisted ideologies.”
Connor made two attempts at murdering police officers on separate dates. Both instances involved her making hoax 999 calls to lure them to where she was hiding.
The first attempt did not result in injury, although the improvised explosive devices did detonate. Connor said she used this failed attack as a ‘trial run’ for the attack on 28 May 2013 when she threw two IEDs at officers from the lane beside the house she had lured them to.
The PSNI has released audio of the 999 call made on the same date in which Connor can be heard claiming her name is Gemma and that her boyfriend has hit her.
Listen to it here:
In a statement, police said Connor “meticulously planned the attack on police officers who were attending what they thought was a genuine emergency call for help from a woman purporting to be in danger in her Crumlin Road home in the early hours of the morning on 28 May”.
“Instead they were lured to a hoax call which ended in an attempt to murder them.
It is just sheer good fortune that they were not killed or seriously injured. What is clear though is the total disregard Christine had for the people within this community who also could have been seriously injured or killed. The shrapnel from the devices travelled up to 35 metres and was found lodged in the homes of local people.
A claim of responsibility for the 28 May attack made from a public phone box in the Shrewsbury area formed a major part of the PSNI’s enquiry. This resulted in the identification of Stuart Downes as a suspect.
This, together with CCTV evidence, resulted in the identification of Connor as a suspect and subsequent investigations provided the link between her and Downes.
Police said the devices she used were “sophisticated and primed to maim and murder”.
“However, good forensic work by detectives spanning over weeks and months, enabled them to connect Christine to these heinous crimes through a litany of evidence they uncovered.”
The evidence included the mobile phone Connor used to make the hoax 999 calls, which was found in a nearby garden.
In the alleyway beside the house she lured officers to, Connor left two woollen gloves from which police identified her DNA, as well as her footprint in dog excrement which was traced to boots found in her wardrobe.
A blue supermarket bag for life, which she is seen carrying in CCTV footage, was found in the same garden as the phone.
Police said she was not carrying this bag in CCTV footage that captured her fleeing the scene. They believe she used this to carry the devices.
Her hoodie, from which police identified her DNA, was found in a skip near the scene.
Mobile phones, laptops and sim cards were found hidden inside her mattress. She used these to communicate with her co-conspirator Downes.
Lured men online with photos of Swedish model
Police said Connors was “very cunning and duped a number of men through fake profile photographs on social media to become involved in her terrorist aspirations”.
She used photographs of Swedish model, fashion designer and blogger Sanne Alexandra Andersson without her knowledge or consent.
Downes was one of these men. He was a co-defendant, who also jointly faced five charges including attempted murder and possessing explosives and causing explosions with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property on 16 and 28 May 2013.
The 31-year-old from Meole Brace in Shrewsbury, England, was due to stand trial before he died by suspected suicide on 24 June 2016.
The PSNI said he “played a key part in the attacks, as we have evidence that he sourced component parts and shipped them to his Belfast accomplice”. Police also have footage from his phone showing him testing the explosive mix.
They said of Connor:
Her deceitfulness knew no bounds and by using a fictitious name and a profile picture that bore no resemblance to her when communicating online with Stuart Downes, she co-ordinated this sickening attack on officers who were simply carrying out their core job of protecting their community.
Connor also enticed an American man online. Police said they arrested and questioned Zachary Gevelinger after he visited her in Hydebank Prison on 6 July 2013.
They found correspondence from him in her house, as well as cheques he had sent her. The FBI searched Gevelinger’s house in the USA on the PSNI’s behalf and seized computer equipment which confirmed the link to Connor. He took his own life last month.
Connor also communicated with these men via a ‘United Struggle’ Facebook page which she created for her one-member organisation.
Neither of these men, who are now both deceased, had previous connections to Northern Ireland or to Northern Ireland-related terrorism.
Police said this case was “hugely complex and unusual and spanned over four years, involving UK police services working together to gather evidence in order to place this dangerous individual before the courts”.
“Working together, we have disrupted the activity of a dangerous individual and put her behind bars,” they added.
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He is basically saying nothing.
Hit your “page up” key a couple of times. That’s a whole lot of nothing.
What a bag of wind.! The Country is going down the tubes , people are suffering, and dying for lack of resources, and this Minister persists in wasting the Country’s time , and resources, instead of doing the right thing and resigning.
Where is Ritchie Rodgers now, how can you defend these slime balls Ritchie
Sgt Mc Cabe has made his allegations and they have been or are being dealt with by different bodies, including GSOC. He is unhappy with the outcome of every investigation and keeps pushing.
He’ll get his public investigation soon and will be shown to be the crank he is (after costing us millions). Then he will go to the Supreme Court and then Europe (costing millions more).
Tony,
read his speech before making inane comments.
Of course he’s unhappy with the investigations – there hasn’t been any credible investigations. Shatter has consistently refused to allow them.
Even now, with Oliver Connolly fired by Shatter, there is currently no state mechanism for a whistleblower to turn to. Shatter has taken him out. You’re being incredibly naive Despicable you.
Shatter as per usual talking through his bum.
he is blaming everybody else except himself
This whole saga stinks! And the strongest odor emanates from Shatter and his bedfellow the Garda Commissioner! For justice to prevail Shatter and Callinan need to resign!
Waffle, waffle and more waffle… so much bullsh1t and dishonesty coming out of this government. I am truly ashamed that, I was once a card-carrying member of Fine Gael. And for that I apologise to all…
Oh, relax. You didn’t kill anybody, you just took part in politics.
The Gobsh1te must have lost the last page of his script which said”
I tender my resignation with immediate effect”.
Having listened to the speech it comes across that Michael Martin is the one who must feel very embarrassed and appears incompetent….
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern received a full file on 12 allegations of malpractice from Sergeant McCabe in 2009,. The complaints were fully investigated and nothing untoward was found by AGS, GSOC or the DPP. All this happened on Michael Martin’s government’s watch.
Shatter is the most able Justice minister this country has had in decades.
Sean Macc, are you for real? Alan Shatter is a hopeless Minister for Justice, perhaps you could enlighten us on his achievements during his many years in politics? I bet you can’t name 3 pieces of legislation he is personally responsible for.
Ciaran Morgan – do you actually read or watch the news, like ever?
Successfully passed two referendums – one to cut judge’s pay and one recently on the Court of Criminal Appeal. has brought 24 bills before the Oireachtas in the last two years and is currently engaging in wide ranging legal reforms including taking on the Bar Council.
Sean Macc you are definitely an ould blue shirt Noonan tried to get away with that one, I suppose if enough clowns like you said it often enough, clowns like yourself might believe it. Shatter is a twisted individual trying to destroy a decent person, he has destroyed one man already so keep your old blueshirt guff for people that believe it.
I suppose you have to resort to that type of guff when you can’t argue with facts.
Whatever anyone might say about Shatter (self-regarding pri<k, imo), the one thing anyone who knows anything about it all agrees on, is that he is the hardest working Justice minister in a long time. He has the biggest legislative agenda of any minister in many years.
Sean Collins – Shatter has just laid out a lot of facts. If those facts are proved to be incorrect, then you might have a point. If they are proved to be correct – you don't.
But that's hardly surprising, given your readiness to resort to The Journal's version of Godwin.
But SeanMc – he left these un dealt with files moving around his and his buddy Commissioner Callinan’s desks during his total tenure and is now fully blaming the last Minister ?
What a hopeless defence – Resign ye two fools and soon please – The total credibility of our State is on the line !
La la Sean Mac
Corruption within Fianna Fáil is now being revealed.
Martin and Ahern should resign their Dáil seats immediately.
Dermot – for such a keen student of politics , you are surely aware that Dermot Ahern retired from politics for his fat pension , before the last Election – so what is he to resign from ?
Shatter has done more legal reform than the last 3 Justice Ministers combined.
He also did this and that is really dirtying his legacy.
It seems to me that the Gardai are grossly incompetent….
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/dismiss-minister-alan-shatter
Sign and share if you want this farce to end!
Pretty robust defence I’d say.
I agree Joey but mob rule prevents people reading a reasoned but lengthy rebuttal. Mob mentality. And I dislike Shatter. But he nailed this one
The speech is too long for most Journal commentators – most of them only ever read the article title.
I don’t think so Joey. It was loaded on retorts to Martin, but short on substance. he didn’t answer any central questions, and therefore no one is any the wiser.
I’d expect question time later today will tell considerably more.
If the allegations were untrue would the minster really have taken a week to come out in his defence ? This is nothing but a circus now.
M Martin must feel suitably stupid. He ran into this controversy with his eyes shut.
Minister Shatter would or not tell the truth even if it bites him on the bum .
Pat Rabbitte just morphed into Michael Noonan, how did that happen?
What a brilliant and robust defence. I really think he nailed it. When the facts change i change my mind. This sets out the facts comprehensively. Political masterclass for Mr Martin. The man is safe as houses after that speech IMO.
I have to say I agree, before reading that speech (which clearly a lot of commentators on here have failed to do), I thought he was justifiable toast.
I don’t think he has quite nailed the McCabe failed to cooperate bit, but it makes Martin look like a total idiot.
He ain’t going nowhere!
Why would he. Nothing wrong. I live the Journal Lynch mob. While i never like AS cant say he is in the wrong at all. just jumping on band wagon. all will be forgotten in month or so
Mr bean still waffling on.
Good day for Independents in the Dail; shows they are worth voting for.
So much padding, “Democracy and rule of law is important, blah blah blah”, I’ll reserve judgement till I can go through this wall of text but as of now the fact that he feels the need to cram in so much meaningless pontificating doesn’t bode well for him.
well that’s a lot of red thumbs…I’m basically agreeing with meathsaysno here
Why won’t kenny take an aspirin and get rid of the headache
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