‘Our demands weren’t ridiculous: an end to gerrymandering, equal voting rights, and fair access to public housing. Then the British Army arrived to protect the system that kept us down. This just confirmed my belief that the only way we would ever get change was by armed resistance. I had had more than enough. We tried politics and the State beat us off the streets. I don’t recall any fear or doubt. I hated them. I couldn’t wait to get going.’

[J.B.] O’Hagan later recalled a screw running towards them, intending to hurl a concrete block at the helicopter. ‘He didn’t get far,’ he said. ‘The escape team in the yard blocked him off. I held onto the inside door handle. It wasn’t properly closed, and I was afraid Seamus [Twomey] might fall out. We were rising now. We couldn’t hear the cheers below for the noise of the helicopter, but you could see the men jumping up and down and striking the air with their fists.’

‘I took the charge and hung it on the handle. I primed and lit it and sprinted to join the others in the shelter of the governor’s house. Seconds later, the explosion could be heard all over the town. I put my head around the corner, the door had completely vanished, not even a splinter remained. We had cleared a path and the only thing between us and freedom was a rusty chain link fence. It took us only seconds to tear it down and we scampered across the gardens of the houses that backed up against the outside wall. A cacophony of barking dogs punctured the eerie silence.’

‘Years later, at a funeral, I met one of the men who had been sent to execute me. ‘You were lucky that you never found me,’ I told him. ‘You would have been staring down the barrel of a .44 Magnum and gone home in a box.’ He agreed that he had been extremely fortunate.

My time in prison began courtesy of the helicopter escape but those who benefited most ensured that I became an outcast – and this extended to my family. Those who don’t understand loyalty will never understand the hurt of betrayal.’