Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Nicky Kelly
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nicky Kelly is an Irish Labour party politician from Arklow in County Wicklow. In the 1980s he achieved fame throughout Ireland after he had been sentenced, in 1978, to 12 years in prison for his alleged part in the Sallins train robbery. The ensuing campaign to release him became a symbol of the 1980s with 'Free Nicky Kelly' graffiti posted throughout the country. The evidence of torture committed against him and his two co-accused, Osgur Breatnach and Brian McNally, galvinised a campaign for his release.
In 1984 Kelly was eventually released on "humanitarian grounds". He received a presidential pardon in 1992, along with over €1 million as compensation following campaigns by Amnesty and the ICCL.
In Blackrock 1981, just after the village on the way into town, where the underpass is, there was some graffiti on the wall in Large red letters. It said: "Free Nicky Kelly"...and someone wrote after it in paint: .."with every pack of Cornflakes".