Michael Stone (born 1955) is a loyalist paramilitary from Northern Ireland who, despite convictions for multiple-murder, became a free man and played a significant role in the Northern Ireland Peace Process .

His most infamous crime was the Milltown Massacre in 1988, which took place at the Milltown Cemetery in Belfast during the funeral of three Irish Republican Army volunteers. Intending on killing top Republicans, including Gerry Adams, Michael Stone attacked with grenades and a pistol. He killed three people - one of them an IRA volunteer - and injured sixty others before he was arrested. The attack was caught on television cameras and provided some of the most savage images of the conflict.

Stone, who apparently objected to the newspaper's portrayal of him as a mad Rambo-style gunman, also confessed to shooting dead three people between 1984 and 1987. He claimed the victims were linked to the IRA but none of them were. At his trial he pleaded Not Guilty but refused to offer any defense. Convicted of six murders, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation he serve at least thirty-years.

Whilst behind bars Stone became the leader of the Ulster Freedom Fighters and was among many prisoners in the Maze Prison to meet Mo Mowlam during the negotiations the government held with terrorists from both sides during peace negotations in the mid-1990s. He also collaborated with Martin Dillon on a book about his life titled Stone Cold.

On July 24, 2000, Stone was released from prison under the Good Friday Peace Agreement of 1998 that ruled that those convicted of terrorist crimes were to be set free. The jubilant and triumphant scenes that fellow Loyalists greeted Stone with upon his release angered many Irish Nationalists , although it must be said that terrorists of both sides were often treated as heroes upon their release and this always caused offence and anger, particularly amongst victim's relatives.

He now lives in East Belfast with his girlfriend and has adopted a more low profile in recent years, although in 2004 he published his autobiography titled None Shall Divide Us. He has nine children from two previous marriages.

External links

• BBC article and background about the release from prison