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In 1996, law enforcement entered a British home and took into custody Michael Gallagher on suspicion of IRA involvement. His partner, an university lecturer specializing in geophysical software, was shocked and angry.

Attenborough found it impossible to accept that her intellectual partner – a one-time public employee who assisted those in need – might be participating with the IRA. He had even impressed her by solving a challenging word game in merely record time.

The Charges

The accused was formally charged with conspiring to enable the IRA launch explosive assaults at a key transport hub in the mid-1990s. While these actions led to no loss of life, they created major disruption.

She raised funds and backing from others to assert her boyfriend's lack of guilt. In spite of the support, he was convicted of plotting bomb attacks and was given a 20-year imprisonment.

“Other than a handful of individuals, I barely share with anybody,” she stated. “It was not a matter I was happy about because Gallagher had misled me.”

Admission of Guilt

Currently, nearly many years afterward, the partners remain together and have jointly authored a book that confirms Gallagher was, actually, involved.

Gallagher had been an IRA fixer who supported various missions, such as the 1994 mortar launch. He hid the reality from Attenborough and only confessed after his sentencing, making Attenborough shocked.

Life After Prison

Subsequent to Gallagher's liberation under the terms of the Northern Ireland settlement, the couple moved to rural County Donegal and set up a online enterprise, which they continue to run.

The publication, named Unbroken: Deception, Truth and Lasting Love, changes viewpoints between the both and withholds the revelation of his involvement until following his sentencing.

I believe Michael is not a terrible person, he’s a fundamentally good person,” she stated. “Merely failed to prioritize me, and it is unclear if I see that as treachery. He had no malicious intent.”

Past and Partnership

The couple met in the mid-1980s through networks that backed UK mining strikers and demonstrated against South Africa’s apartheid.

Attenborough, from the West Midlands, held a advanced degree in mathematical physics. Gallagher, from Glasgow, was an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic.

He had ancestral ties and carried out errands for the IRA, arranging lodging, logistics and identification for activists in the UK.

The Deception Revealed

He concealed his activities from his partner, who favored Irish political unity but disapproved of violent tactics.

I had given a vow to the IRA and a commitment to Mary and I believed I could manage both – I could to handle each,” he commented.

Law enforcement identified him as a individual under investigation who had visited a building with remnants of incendiary substances. They watched his movements and bugged the couple’s home for nearly 24 months, concluding in the surprise arrest at their London home on October 28, 1996.

Aftermath and Reflection

During over a year – throughout her trips to see him and the legal proceedings in early 1998 – he kept his involvement.

“There was no way inform her because had I told her back then, she would have had to tell her brother: ‘Don’t bother looking for bail for Michael because he’s guilty,’” Gallagher said. “That was really an awful experience.”

The hope of avoiding a guilty verdict sustained his fiction until the court found him guilty. Shortly after, when she visited to mention plans for an appeal, he admitted his actions.

In the beginning, I was uncertain whether to accept his admission,” she recalled. “I considered, well, which version of the truth should I accept?”

Emotionally shaken, she considered leaving the relationship, but in subsequent visits she accepted Gallagher’s apologies and rationalised his secret actions.

Clearly I didn’t agree with these actions with the organization. Yet, it was not a leading position that he was playing.”

Last Disclosures

During the creation of their memoir, Gallagher disclosed another decades-old secret to his partner: when he rapidly solved the word game in the newspaper of a periodical, he had already solved it in a different version.