UK voiced concerns over 'top man' in Northern Bank heist

Updated / Saturday, 27 Dec 2025 00:01 In December 2004 a gang raided the Northern Bank in Donegal Square West in Belfast, making away with just over £26.5m By Fiachra Ó Cionnaith Harry Manning Evelyn O'Rourke Then British prime minister Tony Blair's chief of staff Jonathan Powell told Irish officials he believed the "top man" involved in the £26.5m Northern Bank robbery would be "clever enough to avoid getting arrested" weeks after the infamous raid took place. The correspondence is outlined in new files from January 2005 released as part of the annual transfer of State Papers from Government departments to the National Archives of Ireland, which also show Mr Powell feared the DUP "would go on the rampage" when they were told who was believed to be involved. In December 2004, a gang widely believed to have involved the Provisional IRA took part in a raid on the Northern Bank in Donegal Square West in Belfast, making away with just over £26.5m. The heist was one of the biggest in the history of the United Kingdom, with its fallout leading to direct rule being temporarily re-imposed in Northern Ireland and serious concerns the peace process could be derailed. In a 5 January 2005 meeting in Downing Street between senior British and Irish officials weeks after the raid, files show Mr Blair's chief of staff Jonathan Powell said London was "pretty certain it was the IRA". He said London believed the heist was undertaken by people "very close to the Sinn Féin leadership", a claim rejected at the time by Sinn Féin, and that while the PSNI hoped to make arrests Mr Powell said he "feared the 'top man' involved would be clever enough to avoid being arrested". In response to the remarks, Irish civil servant at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Michael Collins, said Dublin "shared the deep anxiety about the bank robbery" and that it was "almost incomprehensible" planning was taking place while Sinn Féin was involved in power-sharing talks with the DUP. In the same file, Mr Collins said "the assessment on the Irish side was that the IRA remains a unified organisation; the Northern Bank was not a solo run". Meanwhile, related files (2025/120/37 and 2025/120/34) also show that during the same period Department of Justice officials privately warned there was "no evidence" the Provisional IRA was "winding down". The view was outlined in a January 2005 overview note before meetings with Sinn Féin, which said there were "no signs the PIRA [is] winding down its capacity", instead saying "it continued to recruit, though in small numbers; to gather intelligence; and to engage in some relatively low-level training". They also said the Provisional IRA "continued to engage in significant amounts of smuggling"; continued "to commit paramilitary shootings and assaults although at a lower number than before and without committing murder"; and "continued ... to control republican areas". It further said there was at the time "no evidence of PIRA agreeing that those it has exiled should...

Preview: ~500 words