Tony Geraghty

“the hardback edition appeared in October 1998.”

“is, in effect, one man – its secretary”

“by six MoD police detectives (including a woman to keep an eye on my wife) lasted almost eight hours.”

“I was released after five hours.”

“About 150 miles away, HarperCollins’s west London office was also being raided and searched, but no arrests were made.”

“For the next 360 days or so, I was on police bail.”

“In May 1999, I was charged with breaching Section 5 of the 1989 Official Secrets Act: the first time this law had been exercised.”

“I made a single appearance at Bow Street and faced an Old Bailey trial, plus two years’ imprisonment and financial ruin.”

“By December 1999, a year after the raid, a new attorney-general had looked at the file, discovered new evidence and decided he was “not content” for the case against me to proceed.”

“He was interviewed for four hours and emerged convinced of the MoD’s declared belief that The Irish War had indeed damaged national security.”

“The paperback, due to appear two months later, was put on the back-burner.”

“The Irish War, published in paperback by HarperCollins (£7.99), is on the bestseller lists in Ireland”

“The second anniversary of its police raids on civilians approaches”