A CONVICTED terrorist, who used his job at the University of Central Lancashire as a cover to plot a series of IRA explosions across Britain, has been released after serving just six years of his jail sentence.

Feilim O'Hadhmaill, 42, moved from a prestigious university in Dublin to the UCLa so he could lay plans for a series of IRA bombs at strategic locations in Britain which could have cost hundreds of lives.

Those lives were only saved when security forces caught him red-handed in Accrington with a car packed with 17 kilos of semtex and other bomb-making equipment.

They also found a chilling list of more than 200 potential targets -- including the West Coast mainline, which runs through Preston.

He was jailed for 25 years at the Old Bailey in November 1994, but has been released within the past fortnight from the Maze Prison under the Good Friday agreement, which involves releasing terrorists in return for an end to Republican violence.

News of his release has been greeted with outrage by local people and Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans, who described it as a "terrible injustice." He said: "There is absolutely no way this man should have been released so soon.

"He has been convicted of being a terrorist and his release sends the wrong message to the world."

O'Hadhmaill, a father of two, was arrested by armed police as part of an operation against IRA terrorists based in Northern England.

He was found in Accrington town centre in a car which had been driven over from Ireland and was loaded with 17 kilos of Semtex and other bomb-making equipment on February 21, 1994.

After being convicted, he told a stunned court that he felt he was not guilty for the atrocities involving the IRA, sarcastically congratulating the security services for catching him.

He said: "I hope the Government in England now take note that it is time for them to leave Northern Ireland alone."

He claimed the British courts had no right to try him, adding: "I remained unbroken and unbowed.

"I deeply regret being captured but will not reveal any secrets. I am a political prisoner."

A spokesman for Lancashire Police at the time claimed the conviction was a major coup, saying a man with O'Hadhmaill's intelligence must have been more than just a footman for the IRA in Britain.