'Unbroken' Love: Academic Forgave Partner's IRA Secret

The release of the new joint memoir, "Unbroken: Secrets, Lies and Enduring Love," by Mary Attenborough and Michael Gallagher, has ripped the veil off a nearly three-decade-old deception, confirming Gallagher's secret life as an IRA "fixer" who facilitated the 1994 Heathrow Airport mortar attacks. The book reveals the shocking twist: Attenborough was completely unaware of her partner's guilt and championed his innocence until he confessed only after his conviction.

The Arrest and Conviction

On October 28, 1996, police swooped on the London home of Mary Attenborough, a former maths lecturer with a doctorate in mathematical physics, and her partner, Michael Gallagher, a Glaswegian former civil servant and recovering alcoholic. Gallagher, then 55, was arrested on suspicion of IRA activity, specifically for his role in the March 1994 mortar attacks on Heathrow, which caused massive disruption but no casualties.

To Attenborough, the idea was ludicrous. She knew Gallagher as "romantic and cerebral," a partner she'd met in 1985 through anti-apartheid and mining-strike support groups, who could even complete the Guardian's cryptic crossword in three minutes. Unbeknownst to her, Gallagher, who had Northern Irish roots, was an IRA fixer providing "vital" back-up by arranging accommodation, transport, and documents for Provisional IRA active service units in England.

Attenborough, who supported Irish unification but opposed the IRA’s methods, immediately threw herself into campaigning for her partner's freedom, fearing a miscarriage of justice similar to the Guildford Four case. Despite her efforts and the funds she raised for his legal battle, Gallagher was convicted in February 1998 by a jury at Woolwich Crown Court of conspiring to cause explosions and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The trial judge, Mr Justice Richard Tucker, noted Gallagher's role was "an important one without which this operation could not have been mounted."

The Post-Conviction Confession

Gallagher maintained his innocence to Attenborough throughout the 16 months of surveillance, his arrest, and the trial. He explained his decision to keep the secret until after the verdict, saying, "There was no way I could tell her because had I told her then, she would have been obliged to tell... ‘Don’t bother looking for sureties for Michael because he’s guilty.’" He finally confessed to her days after the conviction, leaving her "stunned" and distraught.

Attenborough, aged 71, ultimately chose to forgive the deception. "I know Michael isn't a terrible person, he's a very good person," she said, rationalising his actions. For his part, Gallagher, now 82, said a primary motivation for co-writing the memoir was to "get out there" the truth that Attenborough was genuinely innocent and unaware of his activities.

Latest Updates and Book Release

Gallagher was released from prison under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Since his release, the couple moved to rural County Donegal, Ireland, where they co-founded and still run a web development business, The Webbery. Attenborough is also an author of two third-level engineering mathematics textbooks, while Gallagher is an award-winning author of short stories, who is now working on his first novel.

Their memoir, Unbroken: Secrets, Lies and Enduring Love, which tells the dramatic true story in alternating voices, was published by Merrion Press and had its official launch in Óstán Loch Altan, Gort an Choirce, in Donegal, on Friday, July 4, 2025. The book's narrative structure deliberately models a "delayed reveal" of Gallagher's guilt, a technique inspired by Gillian Flynn's novel, Gone Girl.

In a final, lighter twist revealed during the book's writing, Gallagher confessed to his partner about an even older secret: his ability to solve the Guardian crossword so quickly was due to him having already done it earlier in his own copy. This final, minor deception underscores the complex, decades-long dynamic of their extraordinary relationship, which has endured decades of secrecy, imprisonment, and a shocking political revelation.