Teenager in the IRA

Thomas 'Dixie' Elliott was just 16 years old when he was recruited into the ranks of the Provisional IRA.

By the age of 19, he was in jail.

Sentenced to 12 years in prison for the the attempted murder of a British soldier, he had fully committed himself to violent republicanism.

He claims he saw no other alternative.

Born to a Catholic mother and a Presbyterian father, he grew up in Derry city during the worst years of civil unrest.. His want to join the IRA was fuelled by the Royal Ulster Constabulary and British army's treatment of the nationalist community.

Now 65 years old, the former blanketman - who shared prison cells with hungerstrikers Bobby Sands and Thomas McElwee - refuses to romanticise the IRA's campaign of violence. In fact, he now belives it was 'for nothing'.

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