Hundreds of ex IRA inmates to seek compensation for false imprisonment

It emerged that former inmates of the Maze jail have consulted lawyers and prisoner groups over their claim.

They also want their convictions for IRA membership to be overturned.

The H-Block compounds in the now closed Maze Prison complex - the former home, down the years, of hundeds of ex-IRA prisoners

Many say confessions were gained through torture and evidence was tampered with.

The ex-convicts claim they were only guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Some ex-prisoners cannot get jobs, insurance or loans because of their convictions. They are barred from countries such as the United States.

But the relatives of those killed by republican terrorists last night expressed outrage.

Willie Frazer's father James was shot dead by the IRA in 1975.

Mr Frazer, of the pressure group Families Acting for Innocent Relatives, said: 'These people are terrorists who maimed and murdered innocent people.

'They want to rub salt in the wounds of the victims of their terrorist crimes.

'People must realise how sick these people are. Wanting compensation from the Government is one sickening step too far.

'We don't want to hear IRA men telling us they are entitled to compensation because they were locked up for their crimes. They must not succeed.'

Disgusted: Michelle Williamson

Michelle Williamson, whose parents George, 63, and Gillian, 47, were killed in the 1993 Shankill Road bomb in Belfast, said: 'It is disgusting that convicted IRA terrorists should even be allowed to ask for compensation when their victims have got absolutely nothing.

'Surely the fact that there terrorists got out of jail early is good enough for them. This is yet another slap in the face for victims and their families.

'This would not be tolerated in any other country.'

Independent Northern Ireland MEP Jim Allister said the mass claims could not be justified.

He added: 'Everyone convicted of IRA membership in Northern Ireland underwent due process with a right of appeal. I can see no reason for this wrongful imprisonment claim now.

'The IRA murdered over 2,000 innocent people. Sinn Fein would have us believe that there was some huge conspiracy to convict the innocent.

But who committed all these crimes if it was not the IRA men who were convicted?

'The innocent people are those who are in their graves because they were killed by IRA murderers, and we must never forget that.'

However, Sinn Fein Assembly Member Caral Ni Chuilin said: 'People from working-class areas were in the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up spending their lives in jail.'