A TERRORIST who plotted to blow up strategic locations in Britain from a base in Accrington during the height of the IRA's reign of terror has been freed -- less than six years into a 25-year jail sentence.

Feilim O'Hadhmaill, 42, who was arrested after being caught with a cache of explosives stored at a house in Accrington, was released from the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland earlier this month.

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" but Hyndburn MP Greg Pope said hard choices had to be made to keep the peace process on track.

Prison Service bosses refused to say exactly when he was released, but did confirm his release was part of the on-going implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, which involves freeing convicted terrorists in return for IRA ceasing its campaign of violence. O'Hadhmaill, a father of two, was arrested by armed police as part of a sting on 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.

He was also found in possession of a list of 247 potential bombing targets, which included sites in Lancashire and the West Coast Mainline.

He is believed to have played a role in the City of London and Warrington bombings.

O'Hadhmaill had used a house in Bold Street, Accrington, as his base, working as a lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston as part of his elaborate cover. Earlier this year, it was reported he was due for release on July 28.

But a spokesman for the Prison Service said: "We can confirm he is no longer in custody. We can't say when he was released but he has recently gone out of our custody."

Accrington was cordoned off and residents were told to stay in doors and 'keep down.'

One Bold Street resident, who asked not to be named, said: "This man wanted to blow normal people like us up and it took us a long time to trust new residents in the street after we realised we had been living with a terrorist in our midst."

She added: "It has taken us a long time to forget and I suppose we will always worry that he may come back to seek some sort of twisted revenge."

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans 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,

"It also upsets the many people who were left so shaken up by the fact they had been living with a terrorist."

He added: "We are releasing killers in return for an IRA ceasefire but we have yet to see any of their guns. This is a terrible injustice."

Hyndburn Council leader Peter Britcliffe said: "It is most definitely wrong that this man who plotted to kill people has been released so soon. People in Hyndburn will never forget the day they discovered the IRA were living on their doorstep."

Hyndburn MP Greg Pope said: "These are very difficult decisions.

"I can understand why people are upset that he has been released, but sometimes you have got to make this kind of difficult choice to keep the peace process on track.

"I would just say to people who are upset that in the last few years we have had a time in Northern Ireland and the mainland without bombs going off. Sometimes you have to make hard choices, and I just hope that it is worth it.

"It's not just republican prisoners."