I masterminded the plot to blow up Lord Mountbatten: Ex-IRA commander ... trends now
A ruthless ex-IRA commander has sensationally confessed to The Mail on Sunday that he was behind the assassination of King Charles's beloved great-uncle.
In an astonishing admission set to cause huge pain to Charles, Michael Hayes callously boasted that he designed the explosive device that killed Lord Mountbatten, and masterminded the atrocity.
Lord Mountbatten – a mentor to both Prince Philip and the then Prince Charles – was murdered aged 79 when the IRA blew up his pleasure boat during a holiday at his summer home in Co Sligo, on the west coast of the Republic of Ireland, in August 1979.
Only one member of the IRA was ever convicted of the atrocity. Thomas McMahon was arrested on the day of the blast and jailed for life but later released under the Good Friday Agreement.
But now, after being approached by a MoS reporter, Hayes has bragged: 'I blew up Earl Mountbatten.'
Michael Hayes (pictured) callously boasted that he designed the explosive device that killed Lord Mountbatten, and masterminded the atrocity
Hayes (pictured) said that he did not regret killing Lord Mountbatten and coldly described the two teenage boys who died as 'casualties of war'
Lord Mountbatten – a mentor to both Prince Philip and the then Prince Charles – who was murdered aged 79
Killed alongside the earl were his grandson Nicholas, 14; Doreen Brabourne, 83, Nicholas's grandmother; and crewman Paul Maxwell, 15, of Enniskillen.
Legal experts this weekend told the MoS that Hayes's admission made him liable for prosecution for the murders, if the Irish police and Director of Public Prosecution decided to pursue him.
Hayes said that he did not regret killing Lord Mountbatten and coldly described the two teenage boys who died as 'casualties of war'.
As Buckingham Palace last night declined to comment, Ian Paisley Jr, the Democratic Unionist Party MP for North Antrim in Ulster, called for the Garda Síochána, the police service in the Republic of Ireland, to 'immediately' investigate Hayes.
'The sensational, shocking and blood-curdling statement by a self-confessed, cold-blooded murderer ought to be immediately investigated by the police and the man brought to justice,' he said.
Queen Elizabeth II pictured chatting with Lord Louis Mountbatten at the Guards Polo Club on June 1 1975
The IRA blew up Mountbatten's pleasure boat during a holiday at his summer home in Co Sligo, on the west coast of the Republic of Ireland. Pictured: The wreckage after the explosion
Legal experts this weekend told the MoS that Hayes's admission made him liable for prosecution for the murders. Pictured: Part of the wreakage of Lord Mountbattens boat the Shadow V, circa August 1979
The brutal killing of Lord Mountbatten, who was affectionately known as 'Uncle Dickie' by the Royal Family, affected Charles deeply. In his diary, the 31-year old Prince of Wales wrote of 'agony, disbelief, a kind of wretched numbness'. But in 2015 Charles showed forgiveness, shaking
