Woman sentenced to 24 years for luring police to fake-abuse explosions

A woman from North Belfast is being sentenced to 24 years for trying to lure police officers. She was convicted of causing an explosion, attempted murder and preparing for terrorist actions.  

Christine Connor, 35, called police on May 28, 2013, claiming she had been domestically abused by her boyfriend.   

Police had to trust her because they assumed that the accident was genuine, and that similar incidents had been recorded before.

Detective Superintendent Richard Campbell, of Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Serious Crime Branch said, “The officers were responding to what they believed was a woman in fear of an abusive partner.”

Connor exploited a scenario that was all too common to many women in domestic violence – her boyfriend was “smashing up the house”.

Believing the incident, when two police officers went to the address given during the call, two improvised explosive devices were thrown toward them. Luckily, the officers were not injured in the incident.

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Today she was given a sentence of 24 years in prison. Of which 20 years are to be served behind bars and final four years to be served on licence.

The punishment handed down today at Laganside Crown Court to 35-year-old Christine Connor has been welcomed by police.

Officer who left home to work that day were never expected to be the victims of such an assassination attempt. They wanted to keep people safe and sincere about their work at the time.

“Thankfully they got to go back home to their loved ones that day. I would like to thank all officers who were involved in bringing Christine Connor to justice. And thankfully she is now in prison paying the price for her crimes,” Detective Superintendent Richard Campbell said.