As the leading prosecutor in many notorious terrorist trials, Ronald Appleton’s list of cases from the savage years of Northern Ireland’s Troubles ensured he developed unparalleled experience in bringing those accused of politically inspired violence to justice.
His high-profile hearings included cases against the IRA unit responsible for the La Mon House restaurant bombing that killed 12 people in 1978, the loyalist Shankill Butchers gang in 1979 and the gunman Michael Stone, who shot dead three mourners at a republican funeral in 1988.
