Britain's new Director of Public Prosecutions has answered critics who opposed his appointment because he has defended republican paramilitaries by pledging to "prosecute terrorists with unique vigour".
Ken Macdonald QC, one of London's leading defence barristers, last year defended three Real IRA members charged with a string of charges under the Terrorism Act, including conspiring to cause explosions.
The three, all from Co Louth, were each jailed for 30 years pleaded guilty after being caught in a sting operation in which MI5 officers posed as Iraqi arms dealers.
An entry on his chambers' website states that Mr Macdonald is "very well known for his work in cases where allegations of political violence are made against Irish republicans."
"He is especially interested in fair trial issues arising out of recent anti-terrorist legislation in Britain and abroad," it adds.
Mr Macdonald, who will head up the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in England and Wales, insisted that his work on behalf of those accused of "political violence" had given him an insight into the mind of those who perpetrate it.
"Under my direction, the CPS will prosecute terrorists with unique vigour," he said.
"We shall be absolutely relentless. Anyone who thinks otherwise is in for a very rude shock.
"I have been in scores of terrorism trials. I have done as many as any other barrister in the UK. I know what terrorism is and I know what it does."
In an interview in The Times newspaper, Mr Macdonald (50), who has also defended al-Qaida supporters, said the entry had been written "for lawyers".
"The definition of terrorism adopted by governments of all parties has been 'violence for political ends'," he said.
"That does not make it a lesser crime. It makes it a worse crime.
"I do not believe it is a political crime. Terrorists are not political prisoners, they are dangerous and wicked criminals."
Mr Macdonald was educated at a Christian Brothers boarding school in Bath in the 1960s and said he "enjoyed the freedom of being released" from it.
His father, a government geneticist at Porton Down, and his mother, a deputy headmistress at a Catholic girls' school, wanted him to have a Catholic education.
"By the time I was 16 my parents decided I had had a Catholic education and were probably glad not to pay the fees any more," he said.
After his A-levels, Mr Macdonald studied at St Edmund Hall at Oxford, where he was convicted of possessing cannabis and fined £80 in 1971.
"It was 32 years ago. I do not support the legalisation of drugs," he said, adding that he intended to prosecute drug users "fully, transparently and vigorously".
