| abstract | - Father Patrick Fell (born 1940) is a Roman Catholic priest who was convicted in the 1970s of being a commander of a IRA active service unit. In June 1984 he was successful in his action to find the British Government guilty of violating the European Convention on Human Rights. The Government had denied the right of legal representation to prisoners facing internal prison disciplinary charges. Fell was born in England and was a convert to Catholicism before joining the Priesthood. He was assistant priest at All Souls Church, Earlsdon, Coventry. Fell never admitted IRA membership. In April 1973, Fell was arrested with six others alleged to comprise an IRA unit planning a campaign in Coventry. He was tried at Birmingham Crown Court. The jury found three of the seven not guilty; the remaining four were all found guilty of criminal damage and conspiracy to commit arson. Fell and Frank Stagg, were found to be the unit’s commanding officers; Stagg was given a ten-year sentence and Fell twelve years. Thomas Gerald Rush was given seven years and Anthony Roland Lynch, who was also found guilty of possessing articles with intent to destroy property, namely nitric acid, balloons, wax and sodium chlorate, was given ten years.
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