A 'Sniper at work' sign was mounted by the IRA near Crossmaglen

Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick, the last British soldier to die before the Good Friday peace agreement, as Bernard McGinn, the IRA sniper convicted of his killing, has been found dead.

Bernard McGinn, an IRA sniper convicted of killing the last British soldier to die before the Good Friday peace agreement, who has been found dead: Paul Faith/PA Wire

Infamous IRA sniper Bernard McGinn (56) was found dead in a house in Killyconnigan, Monaghan Town, today.

It is thought McGinn died of natural causes. A post Mortem is expected to be held tomorrow.

McGinn was convicted of killing Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick in Bessbrook on February 12, 1997, one of the last British Soldiers to be killed by the IRA during The Troubles. Restorick was talking and smiling to a Catholic woman when he was gunned down.

McGinn was a member of one of two IRA sniper teams which used the deadly Barrett 50 M90 calibre sniper rifle to kill a total of nine members of the British forces, including Stephen Restorick between 1992 and 1997.

A native of Castleblayney in County Monaghan, Bernard McGinn was caught by British Army SAS operatives at a farm near Crossmaglen on 10 April 1997. McGinn confessed to his role in the IRA bombing campaign involving attacks in Northern Ireland and England and he also implicated more than twenty members of the IRA’s South Armagh Brigade.

McGinn was sentenced to a total of 490 years in 1999 for 34 separate offences for his IRA activities including the murder of three British soldiers, his involvement in the 1992 bombing of the Baltic Exchange and the 1996 South Quay bombing, and the bombing of Hammersmith Bridge later the same year. However, he was released in 2000 under the Good Friday Agreement.

McGinn’s first joined the IRA at the age of 15. His father was a former Sinn Fein councillor and he was the brother-in- law of Cavan/Monaghan Sinn Féin TD and Health spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin.

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