WHEN the man Arlene Foster believes shot her father was killed by the SAS, hiding nearby was his IRA accomplice Sean Lynch, now a Sinn Féin assembly member.
The 62-year-old is among three Sinn Féin candidates standing in Fermanagh-South Tyrone in the forthcoming assembly election.
In April 1986, Lynch and Seamus McElwaine were preparing a huge landmine to ambush a British army patrol on the Lisnaskea to Rosslea road when the SAS opened fire on the pair.
McElwaine was shot dead and Lynch seriously wounded. However, the SAS overlooked the wounded IRA man, who lay overnight in a sheugh, only to be discovered the next day by an army patrol.
He later said he witnessed the SAS questioning McElwaine before shooting him dead.
Lynch was taken to the military wing of Musgrave Park hospital in Belfast, where he spent four months before being transferred to Crumlin Road gaol. In December of 1986 he received a 25 year prison sentence for possession of explosives and a rifle.
During his time in the Maze prison, Lynch was officer commanding of republican prisoners.
He was released in October 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, having served 12 years.
