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During 1996, law enforcement stormed a London residence and took into custody Michael Gallagher accused of Irish Republican Army activities. His girlfriend, an English academic specializing in mathematical physics, was shocked and indignant.

Attenborough could not believe that her cerebral boyfriend – a one-time public employee who supported those in need – could be engaged with the IRA. He had previously won over Attenborough by finishing a difficult puzzle in just a few moments.

The Charges

Gallagher was indicted with working to help the IRA fire mortar attacks at Heathrow Airport in 1994. While the incidents led to no casualties, they produced major disruption.

Attenborough raised money and campaign assistance to assert her boyfriend's lack of guilt. Despite her campaign, Gallagher was sentenced of plotting bomb attacks and handed a two-decade jail term.

With the exception of a few of individuals, I barely share with anyone,” Attenborough commented. “It was not a matter I was happy about because Gallagher had misled me.”

The Confession

Today, almost three decades later, the pair are still in a relationship and have written together a publication that reveals Gallagher was, in fact, responsible.

He had been a facilitator for the IRA who helped various missions, among them the 1994 mortar launch. Gallagher concealed the reality from his partner and merely confessed subsequent to his sentencing, leaving Attenborough devastated.

Post-Release

Following Gallagher's liberation under the conditions of the 1998 Good Friday agreement, the partners relocated to the Irish countryside and started a digital company, which they continue to run.

Their book, called Unbroken: Hidden Facts, Deceit and Relationship, switches viewpoints between the pair and delays the admission of his actions until after his sentencing.

“I know Gallagher isn’t a evil individual, he is a fundamentally good person,” Attenborough stated. “He just didn’t put me first, and it is unclear whether I see that as betrayal. He didn’t intend it.”

Background and Relationship

Attenborough and Gallagher met in the mid-1980s through organizations that backed labor activists and protested against South Africa’s apartheid.

Attenborough, hailing from Walsall, held a PhD in mathematical physics. Gallagher, a Glaswegian, was an budding literary figure and recovering alcoholic.

He had family connections to Northern Ireland and performed occasional jobs for republican groups, handling housing, logistics and identification for republican operatives in England.

Uncovering the Lies

He kept secret his activities from his partner, who supported a united Ireland but rejected violent tactics.

I had given a commitment to the IRA and a vow to Attenborough and I thought I could manage both – that I was able to handle each,” Gallagher explained.

Law enforcement singled out Gallagher as a person of interest who had visited a building with remnants of bomb-making materials. Authorities monitored him and bugged the apartment for almost two years, ending in the pre-dawn raid at their London residence on 28 October 1996.

Consequences and Thoughts

During over a year – including her prison visits and the trial in early 1998 – he held onto his secret.

“There was no way share with her because had I told her at that time, she must have to tell her brother: ‘Stop arranging guarantees for Gallagher because he admitted it,’” Gallagher stated. “It was absolutely an terrible time.”

The hope of avoiding a guilty verdict supported his deception until the jury found him guilty. Soon afterward, when she visited to mention possible legal challenges, he confided his involvement.

In the beginning, I could not decide if to accept his admission,” she remembered. “I considered, so, what account of the reality should I accept?”

Emotionally shaken, she contemplated leaving the relationship, but in future encounters she accepted Gallagher’s explanations and rationalised his secret actions.

Clearly I was opposed with these actions with the organization. Yet, it wasn’t such a major part that he performed.”

Additional Secrets

During the writing of their book, Gallagher revealed a further past deception to his companion: when he rapidly completed the puzzle in the publication of a periodical, he had already completed it in his own copy.