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During the mid-1990s, police entered a British apartment and took into custody Michael Gallagher accused of Irish Republican Army operations. His partner, an university lecturer focused in geophysical software, was stunned and outraged.

She was skeptical that her intellectual boyfriend – a one-time public employee who helped those in need – could be engaged with the IRA. He had previously amazed Attenborough by solving a challenging word game in merely record time.

The Charges

The accused was prosecuted with conspiring to help Irish republicans fire mortar attacks at London's major airport in 1994. Although the incidents resulted in no casualties, they caused significant security concerns.

Attenborough gathered financial support and campaign assistance to proclaim her partner's non-involvement. In spite of her campaign, he was found guilty of involvement in explosive devices and received a two-decade jail term.

Aside from a few of people, I hardly tell others,” Attenborough stated. “It wasn’t something I was that proud of because Gallagher had lied to me.”

Admission of Guilt

Currently, roughly 30 years afterward, the couple continue to be in a relationship and have jointly authored a book that admits Gallagher was, truly, responsible.

He had been involved with republican activities who assisted multiple operations, including the airport incident. Gallagher kept secret the facts from Attenborough and just revealed following his sentencing, making her devastated.

Life After Prison

Following Gallagher's release under the provisions of the Northern Ireland settlement, the partners settled to a remote area and set up a digital company, which they manage to this day.

The memoir, named Unbroken: Hidden Facts, Deceit and Relationship, alternates perspectives between the both and delays the revelation of his involvement until after his trial.

“I know Gallagher is not a terrible person, he is a truly decent person,” Attenborough stated. “He simply didn’t put me first, and I am uncertain whether I view it as betrayal. He had no malicious intent.”

Background and Relationship

Attenborough and Gallagher first encountered each other in the mid-1980s through organizations that aided UK mining strikers and demonstrated against racial segregation.

Attenborough, from the West Midlands, held a advanced degree in mathematical physics. Gallagher, from Glasgow, was an hopeful author and former drinker.

Gallagher had Northern Irish roots and performed errands for republican groups, arranging housing, transport and documents for IRA members in England.

Truth Emerges

He concealed his actions from Attenborough, who supported Irish unification but rejected militant approaches.

“I’d made a pledge to the organization and a pledge to Mary and I assumed I was getting away with it – that I was able to do both,” Gallagher said.

Police singled out him as a suspect who had visited a building with traces of incendiary substances. They monitored him and monitored the couple’s home for almost two years, ending in the early morning police action at their Earl’s Court residence on 28 October 1996.

Consequences and Thoughts

For over a year – during her trips to see him and the trial in early 1998 – Gallagher held onto his secret.

“There was no way inform her because if I had revealed it then, she would have had to notify her brother: ‘Do not trouble yourselves looking for bail for Gallagher because he admitted it,’” Gallagher said. “It was really an awful experience.”

The chance of avoiding a guilty verdict supported his deception until the jury found him guilty. Soon afterward, when she came to see him to talk about possible legal challenges, he confided his involvement.

“At first, I could not decide whether to trust his words,” Attenborough remembered. “I considered, well, whose story of the facts should I accept?”

Emotionally shaken, she considered terminating the partnership, but in future encounters she took his regrets and understood his secret actions.

Clearly I disapproved with these actions with the IRA. But on the other hand, it wasn’t that big a role that he had.”

Additional Secrets

While the authorship of their book, Gallagher disclosed one more decades-old secret to his companion: when he speedily solved the crossword in the publication of the Guardian, he had already solved it in a different version.