Tory schools chief in Croydon exposed as former IRA member

A London Tory councillor spoke out today after being forced to resign following revelations she was a member of the IRA at the height of the Troubles.

Maria Gatland, the councillor in charge of education in Croydon, spent a year in the Provisional IRA before fleeing Northern Ireland and writing a "kiss-and-tell" book about her role in the terrorist organisation.

She spent 35 years living incognito and changing politics from revolutionary Irish republican socialism to moderate Conservatism, being elected for Croham in Croydon in 2002. But her past was revealed at a council meeting when a member of the public protesting about education policy called her by her maiden name, McGuire.

Peter Latham, a member of the Communist Party of Britain, who was at a meeting on Monday night, referred to her as councillor McGuire and said he was confused because he had been reading a book about the Provisional IRA, adding: "You, Cllr Gatland might have heard about it, as you are Irish."

In fact, Gatland was the author of the book, called To Take Arms: My Year with the IRA Provisionals.

It told of her time as a 23-year-old who became close to some of the leaders of the Provisional IRA, then a relatively new splinter group of the original IRA which emerged as the Troubles deepened. Yesterday morning Gatland offered her resignation to the council leader Mike Fisher, who had no knowledge of her past. She was immediately suspended from the Conservative Party which has control of the council and a by-election is now expected.

Today she claimed she had been "used" by the IRA and said: "I was with them for a year. I realised I could not support violence in any way so I defected and came to England.

"I was in such a state to be honest because I was young and idealistic. It is hard for you to understand the turmoil in my life.

"I felt strongly about my country and my people which is why I joined the IRA but doing my part there, I could not accept what was happening, so I left. I was young, pretty and middle-class. I was used. I regret my actions, of course I do. I really believed in the cause of my country. It is something I have paid for since then, and I am paying for now again."

The 59-year-old said she was not privy to information about bombing targets or attacks and claimed not to have taken part in any criminal activities. Her year with the Provisionals saw her claim to have an affair with Daithi O'Connell, a member of the IRA's Army Council, and become involved in a disastrous arms buying trip in Amsterdam.

But she became disillusioned by the terror attacks of 21 July 1972, Bloody Friday, which saw nine people - including a 14-year-old schoolboy - killed in 20 separate bomb attacks across Belfast in just 75 minutes.

She fled Northern Ireland, giving an interview to The Observer about her affair which branded Sean MacStiofain, the supposed IRA chief of staff, an anti-Protestant "bigoted murderer", then wrote the book published in 1973 which contained claims of a split at the top of the group.