A 21-year old man who was caught with a timer power unit in his rented border bungalow was sentenced to two and a half years in jail today.
However Keith McConnan, who is originally from Dundalk, Co Louth, will walk free this week from Hydebank YOC after time already served on remand.
McConnan was sentenced to five years in total and will spend the next two and a half years on supervised licence.
McConnan was arrested with his girlfriend Orla O'Hanlon in December 2013 after their rented bungalow on the Tievecrom Road in Forkhill was searched by officers.
During their search, officers located a number of items including an industrial grinder, a complete Timer Power Unit and a quantity of crushed ammonium nitrate fertiliser.
Both Ms O'Hanlon and McConnan were arrested and subsequently charged with a number of offences, and the couple stood trial late last year at Belfast Crown Court.
Last month Judge Sandra Crawford, who presided over the Diplock non-jury trial, presented her judgment on the case.
She aquitted Ms O'Hanlon on all ten charges she faced, while McConnan - who originally faced nine charges - was found guilty of two offences and cleared of the others.
During the course of the trial, it emerged that during the search of the bungalow, officers located a plastic bag in a wardrobe in the couple's bedroom.
The bag contained items including an improvised mobile phone operated switch unit and portable power supply, as well as a reloaded cartridge.
McConnan was found guilty of possessing both the TPU and the cartridge in suspicious circumstances.
Passing sentence Judge Crawford said that while McConnan didn't face any charges linked to membership of an unlawful organisation, the offences "clearly" included a "terrorist element."
She described TPUs as potentially lethal weapons that have "no innocent purpose".
During the trial, it emerged that McConnan was both friends and involved in business with a man he refused to name who he called Mr X - who was later named in court as alleged Co Louth dissident Oliver Traynor.
Judge Crawford spoke of the "clear association" between McConnan and Mr Traynor, telling the court "the offending occurred in this context" - but said she accepted that whilst a teenager, McConnan had "come under the influence of a malign individual."
Regarding McConnan, the judge said that while on remand he had never been asked to be transferred to the dissident wing and had never expressed any support or sympathy for the dissident movement.
