ALLEGED THEFT OF ARMS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27124, 21 August 1953, Page 9

ALLEGED THEFT OF ARMS

“GREAT EVIL NIPPED IN BUD” (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, August 19. The arrest of men alleged to have been members of the illegal Irish Republican Army had probably “nipped in the bud a very great potential evil,” said a Magistrate when committing the men for trial at' Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, today. The Magistrate (Mr E. F. Cooper) said the public and Britain should be grateful for this.

The men, Cathal Goulding, aged 31, of Dublin, Sean Stephenson, of London, and Manua Canning, of Londonderry, Ireland, were charged with having stolen more than 100 rifles, eight Bren guns, 10 Sten guns, a 2in mortar, a Browning machine-gun, and six mortar bombs.

The police said that when arrested, Goulding said: "We are members of the Irish Republican Army and will only give our names and addresses. You must find out the rest. I do not look upon this as stealing. We wanted the guns and raided the enemy. The guns were going to armed units in Ireland.”

The prosecutor (Mr M. J. Jardine) said the men were arrested after the police had stopped a van at Bishops Stortford, 30 miles from London, and found it was carrying the firearms. A search of Stephenson’s home had revealed Bandages and field dressings. Mr Jardine said the discovery of the medical equipment was significant, because it might be of some use militarily in setting up a regimental aid post or casualty clearing station. The three men were committed for trial at the Hertfordshire Assizes.