Lighting Candles: A Paramilitary’s War with Death, Drugs and Demons

When Manny McDonnell was twelve he awoke to discover British troops surrounding his home in the toughest area of trouble-torn Belfast. Internment had begun and, encouraged by a fiercely Republican mother, he took to the streets with other school kids, throwing bricks, bottles and petrol bombs at soldiers. Jailed at fifteen for having IRA links, he became a unit commander leading deadly missions for the INLA before joining the IPLO, a group so vicious even the IRA ordered it to disband. But his decades of commitment to a free united Ireland turned to disillusion when bombs killed two little boys. By then he was a regular visitor to Scotland, where he befriended major gangland player Paul Ferris and then became the right-hand man of Tam ‘The Licensee’ McGraw. This remarkable, colourful account of one man’s nightmare journey through blood, bombs, bullets and smuggling is a mix of tragedy, fear and humour and is a unique insight into the world of major crime. It includes stories telling how police unwittingly helped car bombers; a terrifying brush with the deadly Shankhill Butchers; the businessmen who made fortunes investing in drugs; hunting a child killer and a host more.It is also the story of how it is possible to put the past behind you and begin a brand new chapter.