Murdered Ryan's pal on memorial march despite death threats.
KEN FOY – 06 SEPTEMBER 2013 02:30 PM
A close pal of slain Real IRA terror chief Alan Ryan is expected to be a prominent figure at a commemoration tomorrow, despite being under a death threat.
Derek Nolan (31) has returned to Ireland and is understood to be staying in Ryan's family home ahead of tomorrow's dissident Republican march.
The march will begin at the Ryan home in Donaghmede and continue to Balgriffin Cemetery.
Up to 300 officers, including the Emergency Response Unit and a riot squad, have been detailed to police the memorial march, which will also be attended by a number of well-known dissidents from the North.
Among those expected to attend is Gary 'Donzo' Donnelly (42) from Derry, who, like Nolan, was a very close friend of Ryan.
He is also under active death threat from the new IRA leadership, which formed after Alan Ryan's murder and has purged many of Ryan's closest associates from the organisation.
COLLAPSED
Donnelly was jailed for seven months in 2010 after losing his appeal against convictions for assaulting and obstructing a police officer.
In 2008, the trial of four Derry men – including Donnelly – dramatically collapsed at the Special Criminal Court after it was ruled that their initial arrests were unlawful.
Senior sources say that another prominent dissident Republican expected at the event is Anthony Beggs (49) from Balyfermot who was jailed for five years in 2000 after he shot the husband of his ex-girlfriend in December 1998.
Beggs was previously released from jail in 1995 under the terms of the Good Friday agreement – he was initially jailed for 10 years in 1990 for his role in a bank robbery in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford.
Sources say that because of the "robust policing plan" that will be in place tomorrow, it is hugely unlikely that there will be similar scenes to what happened at Alan Ryan's paramilitary funeral last September when a volley of shots were fired over his coffin.
Tomorrow, the commemoration will leave Alan Ryan's family home at Grange Abbey Drive at 2.30pm before marching to Balgriffin Cemetery.
Organisers have requested that black ties be worn.
The Herald this week revealed that senior figures within the Real IRA were aware an attack on Alan Ryan was imminent in the weeks before he was shot dead.
