Storey gives his first major interview to Jason O'Toole in the new issue of Hot Press.

Describing himself as a “republican activist” rather than an IRA member, Bobby Storey tells us why he got involved in the Republican struggle as a result of Bloody Sunday, and what he felt was the oppression and marginalisation of his people by Loyalists: “The RUC and British army would have stopped, harassed and arrested people on a daily basis. In my own case… they tied me up and threw me out on the Shankill Road; they beat me up at a chapel one night.”

When asked about murder and kidnapping allegations, Storey responds in vague terms, merely saying he was “very active” in the Republican struggle: “I was involved… it’s hard to quantify”.

He’s a lot more frank, though, when speaking about the 1983 Maze prison escape – the biggest jailbreak since World War II – admitting he was appointing the OC inside the prison. “I was given the task by the leadership within the jail of coordinating the escape on the day”.

His subsequent capture, he says, disappointed him because he felt that a successful prison break would have devastated the British government. “I wanted to ruin Margaret Thatcher’s life,” he admits, “I just wanted to get back at her. I wanted to shaft her. I wanted her hurt. I wanted her damaged. I wanted the British government damaged.”

And, while he doesn’t claim to have had a role in the attempted assassination of Margaret Thatcher, he does say that with the 1984 Brighton bombing the IRA ‘nearly killed’ her. “I think it was a very successful operation,” he adds.

Speaking about victims of IRA violence, Storey expresses regret that ‘non-combatants’ were killed and injured in the struggle, and condemns the recent murders carried out by dissident Republicans: “It’s pointless. A worthless act. The killings didn’t have a purpose. They were futile. They were an absolute waste of life. I was completely dismayed by it.”

“The Sinn Féin strategy now and the Peace Process are obviously the way forward in trying to achieve our political objectives,” he says.

Read the full story in the new issue of Hot Press, out now.