Forty years ago this week there were jubilant scenes in Gaoth Dobhair for the return of sisters Ann and Eileen Gillespie who had just been released from a British prison having served almost ten years of a 15 year sentence.
Ann, a former model, and her sister were arrested in Holyhead in April 1974 and were sentenced to 15 years 10 months later for conspiracy to bomb. Both denied the charges.
Ann is the wife of former Fianna Fáil Minister and MEP Pat the Cope Gallagher. She was born in Bunbeg but moved to Manchester with her family in 1962 when she was a school girl.
Mr Gallagher told the Donegal News this week that he was in Gaoth Dobhair on the night the sisters returned as a friend of the family, but he did not know Ann at that stage.
“It was a huge night of celebrations but was tinged with sadness as their father had died in April and they were not allowed to go to the funeral despite the fact they were to be released three months later,” he recalled.
Mrs Gallagher declined this week to speak publicly about that part of her life. However, back in 2005 she did an interview with TG4 in which she continued to protest her and Eileen’s innocence.
Despite the British Home Office promising not to contest an application to get the sentence overturned, Ann said they had enough of the British legal system.
“I personally never thought I had to prove anything to anyone. I may be a republican but I had nothing to do with the explosions that happened. I was charged with conspiracy. It’s very difficult to prove or disprove conspiracy.
“The Home Office got in contact with our solicitor. They said if we wanted to put our appeal together and send it to them that they wouldn’t contest it,” she told TG4.
She and Eileen had visited a house owned by Irish people in Manchester looking for a garage for her brother’s car. It transpired that bombs were being made at the house and one went of accidentally.
The same forensic ‘expert’ who gave evidence in the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six trials, Dr Scuse, claimed there were traces of explosives on the women’s hands.
“Most of the people he had given evidence against were freed and given a pardon. He lost his job in the end as his evidence was so poor. We also wanted to get a pardon. But we didn’t want it dragged up again. We did our time and were back home. We were delighted to be home. We didn’t want to go through it again,” Ann said.
She told TG4 that the nine-and-a-half years she spent behind bars on the basis of some questionable evidence meant she lost out on having a family with her husband.
“We lost out on all that time, and I was older when I got married,” she added.
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