A gun-toting dissident terrorist jailed last year for planning to murder cops is today exposed as a child pervert.
Shane Stevenson is currently out on licence, having been recently released from prison after he was convicted of a terror plot to target police officers in Lurgan last year after he was caught with AK-47 magazines.
The 36-year-old, who was caught staking out Lurgan PSNI Station, pleaded guilty to possessing firearms in suspicious circumstances and without a firearms certificate, as well as two further counts of attempting to possess a document likely to be useful to terrorism.
His fingerprints and DNA were found on a piece of paper, discovered after a subsequent raid on his house, which included the vehicle registration details of a car that belonged to the wife of a serving PSNI officer, but whose husband was also insured to drive the car.
Mandy Duffy with her brother Colin
Mandy Duffy with her brother Colin
He was sentenced to 16 months in prison last September, but was recently released having served much of that time on remand.
But it’s not his terror convictions that have caused a split within his family – instead it’s the fact he’s currently on the sex offenders register for child sex offences.
Last weekend, Stevenson was accused of smashing up a car which his father – well-known republican Lawrence – was sitting in, by another family member who posted photos of the damage on social media.
Today, we can reveal Shane – a father of seven – has fallen foul of his family after he pleaded guilty to a number of charges of possessing and making indecent images.
He was arrested by cops for the terror offences in 2018 when he and co-accused Martin Kerr where stopped in a white Peugeot and the van contained 22 empty magazines compatible with AKM/AK-47 assault rifles.
While awaiting trial for those offences Stevenson was charged in July 2020 with one charge of possession of an indecent photograph of a child and a second charge of having an extreme pornographic image.
At the time leading Lurgan republican Mandy Duffy – sister-in-law of notorious dissident Colin Duffy – went in to bat for Stevenson when she released a statement saying the charge against him was effectively a state stitch-up.
The wrecked car of Stevenson’s father
The wrecked car of Stevenson’s father
But we can exclusively reveal Shane Stevenson pleaded guilty to two counts of making indecent images of children and three counts of possessing extreme pornographic images.
Two further charges of possessing an indecent image were “left on the books”, according to court papers.
Mandy Duffy, who was at the time a prominent member of Saoradh, the New IRA’s political wing, leapt to the defence of Stevenson.
She said he had only been accused of the crime because he is a republican.
Writing on social media afterwards, Duffy said: “My interpretation of this would be an image that appears to be a child, but [is] not a child.
“But anyway, it hardly matters as this man was sent these images, like a hell of a lot of others, I’m sure, on a WhatsApp group chat or similar.
“He is the only one charged, not the person who sent it or others who received it. This is simply because he is a local republican.
“I would never put myself out on a limb when it comes to child abuse, but I am totally confident that this is a contrived charge simply because he is a republican.
“I will stand in support of Shane 100 percent and his family, who have suffered dreadfully due to these charges and the consequences of these charges.”
But many other dissidents distanced themselves from Stevenson on finding out he had pleaded guilty – rather than fighting the charges and clearing his name – and was sentenced back in June 2021.
Stevenson posing in a museum
Stevenson posing in a museum
And it’s understood members of his own family weren’t too happy either.
“Shane had been telling people those child porn charges were dropped and, because they seemed to slip by without being reported on, people believed him,” said a source.
“But his family obviously had to be told because he was put on probation and told to sign the sex offenders register and social services were obviously informed.
“Those supporting him couldn’t understand why he pleaded guilty to such disgusting offences. If it was just a case of him being sent pictures in a WhatsApp group chat then take it into court and at least make that case.
“Pleading guilty makes no sense, especially when he had been denying it so publicly, and it just looks like he wanted to get it dealt with in the quickest and quietest way possible so more details about the images didn’t come out.”
We can reveal Stevenson appeared at Craigavon Magistrates Court three years ago and was told he must serve 18 months on probation would have to sign the sex offenders register for five years, meaning he has two more years before he can stop doing that.
The court also ordered that his phone be seized and destroyed.
Last weekend, it was claimed that Stevenson had been involved in some sort of clash with his father Lawrence.
Pictures of a car with a smashed-up back window were accompanied on social media with an angry comment.
A relative of Shane Stevenson posted: “Imagine a man after a long overdue few words trying to get to and beat a pensioner. Going as far as going to the side of the car to get him out. Proceeding then to break the back car window in the car. To smash it to bits.
“Then drive off because he could be confronted. Worse it being your own mother and father’s car. Can laugh all well and good when there’s no one in front of you. All your good for big man.”
It was two years after his indecent child images sentence – which went under the radar and was never reported – before Stevenson and a second man, 55-year-old Paul Martin McKerr, who denied the charges and was convicted after a trial, were sentenced for the terror plot.
During McKerr’s trial a prosecutor explained after the van was searched, PSNI officers found a plastic bag containing smaller bags in the footwell of the passenger’s side of the vehicle.
The bag was found to contain 22 empty rifle magazines compatible with AKM/AK-47 assault rifles.
Seized
The prosecutor said that after the items underwent forensic examinations, “it was noted that the magazines had surface rust and were covered in oil” and, “while five magazines didn’t function”, all the items were “component parts of a firearm”.
Also seized from the van and examined were a pair of gloves and McKerr’s Samsung phone.
A Crown lawyer said the circumstances surrounding the recovery of the magazines suggested that both Stevenson and McKerr, who has a previous conviction for riotous behaviour in 2016, were jointly in possession of the magazines.
He said: “The bag was relatively bulky and obstructed the front passenger footwell. It was either there when Stevenson got into the vehicle… or he brought it with him into the vehicle.
“We say that, in either case, the court would be entitled to infer that this accused [McKerr] was jointly engaged in moving what was a valuable terrorist asset.”
After reserving judgment in the case, Judge Kerr later returned guilty verdicts against McKerr on both counts he faced.
Detectives believe that the men – both of whom openly support the New IRA and its political wing, Saoradh – had key roles in targeting cops based in Lurgan.
A previous court hearing was told that Stevenson is linked to New IRA activities and was suspected of carrying out surveillance at the home of a retired police officer in 2016.
In February 2017, a month after a constable was wounded by the New IRA during a gun attack on the Crumlin Road in Belfast, Stevenson told police during an arrest: “Tell your mate on the Crumlin Road ‘up the Ra’. I hope you are looking under your car.”
by BelfastTelegraph
2 comments
They haven’t gone away you know!!
The story the mods tried to censor!!
Good man for posting Belfast telegraph.
So, was she taken for a twat or she she not care?