Terror Marine Ciarán Maxwell led 'intolerable double life'

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A Royal Marine who made bombs for dissident republicans was trapped in "intolerable double life," a pre-sentence hearing has been told.

Ciarán Maxwell, from Larne, County Antrim, was a "Royal Marine by day and republican bomb maker on leave," it was alleged in the Old Bailey courthouse.

He has already admitted a number of offences including bomb-making.

The judge said he must now decide if Maxwell is dangerous, and if this is a case for life imprisonment.

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The pre-sentence hearing began on Wednesday and Maxwell is expected to be told how long he serve in jail on Monday.

'Prolific'

Earlier this week, the court heard Maxwell hid weapons at 43 sites across Northern Ireland and England, and posted bomb-making materials to his late grandmother's house.

The judge said the most important parts of any terrorist organisation are the "command structure and engineering department".

He described Maxwell's actions as a "prolific production by part of the engineering department, if not the engineering department".

The former Marine was not in court, but appeared by video link from Woodhill Prison in Milton Keynes.

Maxwell was brought up a Catholic in Larne but later moved to Exminster in Devon, and was based with 40 Commando in Taunton, Somerset.

His arrest came after a search near Exeter found hides with a range of explosive substances, as well as ammunition, weapons and tools for making bombs.

'Post-traumatic stress'

A defence barrister said his client is not ideologically driven and does not have republican sympathies.

The court was told believes old connections now wish him and his family "serious ill".

On Thursday, the court heard Maxwell was injured in a sectarian attack in his hometown of Larne, County Antrim, when he was 16.

He was "beaten by golf clubs, iron bars and hammers" and "left for dead in a field" in the 2002 assault.

The court was told that a doctor's report said Maxwell had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the immediate aftermath of the attack, and that condition had persisted into his 20s.

But, a prosecutor said there was "no direct evidence" that Maxwell's offending was motivated by the beating he was subjected to by loyalists.

Instead, he was "motivated by dissident republican sympathies and a hostility broadly to the United Kingdom", prosecutor Richard Whittam QC said.