The plotter too extreme for the extremists

Michael McKevitt is a founding member of the Real IRA and was once involved in a plot to assassinate Tony Blair.

His hard-line demands are so extreme he was thrown out of the terrorist group, and he later formed a new organisation called the New Republican Forum.

McKevitt, 59, had been an experienced and trusted quartermaster in the Provisional IRA, with a detailed knowledge of its arms stockpiles.

He was furious about the IRA ceasefire negotiated by Gerry Adams and was in a prime position to spirit away weapons and explosives for use by his dissident breakaway group.

Five years after the Omagh bombing he was convicted in the Irish Republic of membership of an illegal organisation - the Real IRA. It was during his trial that the Blair plot was revealed.

McKevitt appealed against his conviction but it was turned down and he is currently serving a 20- year prison sentence.

His earliest release date is 2016.

He is married to Bernadette Sands McKevitt, sister of the late 1981 hunger striker and MP Bobby Sands.