Pipe bomb man who blew off his own hands jailed

A man who blew off half of his own hands with a pipe bomb has been given a nine-year sentence.

Ryan Treanor, 26, from Victoria Gardens in Lurgan, County Armagh, appeared via video-link at Craigavon Crown Court on Tuesday.

He entered a guilty plea to one count of possessing an explosive substance with intent to endanger life.

Treanor will serve half his sentence in jail and half on licence.

A prosecutor told the court on Friday how several residents in the Enniskeen area of Craigavon "heard a loud bang" at around 21:30 GMT on 1 December 2020.

The court also heard the resident of the targeted property, who was at home with her grandchildren, is the mother of a career criminal who has been subjected to other bomb attacks and an attempted shooting assassination.

Treanor's attempted attack was the third time the house had been targeted.

When she looked outside she saw "a man in dark clothing, his hands badly injured, he was focused on his hands and he was shouting for an ambulance".

As police arrived at the scene, Treanor told them "he had lifted something plastic and it exploded" but they also noticed the "partial remains of a latex glove stuck to his wrist".

The judge said it was clear the device had "detonated immediately" after Treanor had lit the fuse.

After he was taken to hospital, Treanor was arrested and interviewed although he refused to answer police questions.

The court heard that crime scene investigators found parts of blood-stained gloves and a lighter, which had been blown several feet away, with all items containing Treanor's DNA.

'Sinister people'

The judge said that while Treanor has been described as "an errand boy", it was euphemism that "doesn't sit well with the gravity of the offence".

He added that Treanor "professed total amnesia" about events leading up to the incident, which left him with "life changing but not life-threatening injuries".

The judge said he accepted the defendant was acting on instructions of "other more sinister people".

It is thought the defendant is linked to a crime gang involved in organised crime and drug dealing.

The judge, however, told the court he approached Treanor's claims with "extreme scepticism" because the alleged amnesia "ensures that he doesn't name the others involved or to give out any information that may identify them or their associates".

Treanor was told if he had taken the case to trial he would have faced a 12-year sentence.