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During 1996, authorities entered a London residence and arrested Michael Gallagher for alleged IRA operations. His girlfriend, an English academic working in mathematical physics, was stunned and indignant.

She was skeptical that her intellectual partner – a ex-government worker who supported people with addiction issues – was engaged with paramilitary groups. Gallagher had previously impressed Attenborough by solving a difficult puzzle in merely a few moments.

Legal Accusations

Gallagher was prosecuted with working to assist Irish republicans carry out explosive assaults at Heathrow Airport in the mid-1990s. Although these actions resulted in no injuries or deaths, they produced major security concerns.

Attenborough gathered financial support and backing from others to defend her boyfriend's non-involvement. In spite of the support, he was found guilty of plotting bomb attacks and handed a two-decade jail term.

Aside from a small number of others, I didn’t really inform anyone,” Attenborough said. “It was not a matter I was that proud of because Gallagher had misled me.”

Admission of Guilt

Now, almost many years following the events, the pair are still in a relationship and have written together a publication that reveals Michael was, in fact, responsible.

Gallagher had been an IRA fixer who assisted various missions, such as the 1994 mortar launch. Gallagher hid the truth from Attenborough and just revealed subsequent to his guilty verdict, leaving her shocked.

After Incarceration

Subsequent to Gallagher's freedom under the terms of the peace accord, the pair relocated to the Irish countryside and established a web development business, which they still operate.

Their book, titled Unbroken: Secrets, Lies and Enduring Love, changes viewpoints between the pair and delays the admission of Gallagher's actions until after his conviction.

“I know Gallagher is not a terrible person, he is a fundamentally good individual,” Attenborough said. “He simply did not consider me above all, and it is unclear if I view it as betrayal. It was not his purpose.”

Past and Partnership

They met in the mid-1980s through networks that supported labor activists and protested against racial segregation.

She, from the West Midlands, held a PhD in theoretical science. He, a Glaswegian, was an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic.

He had Northern Irish roots and performed errands for republican groups, organizing lodging, travel and paperwork for activists in England.

The Deception Revealed

Gallagher concealed his actions from Attenborough, who supported Irish political unity but rejected militant approaches.

“I’d made a pledge to the organization and a vow to Attenborough and I assumed I could manage both – I could to manage both,” Gallagher said.

Law enforcement singled out Gallagher as a individual under investigation who had been to a storage facility with evidence of incendiary substances. They placed him under surveillance and bugged the apartment for nearly 24 months, culminating in the early morning police action at their Earl’s Court residence on 28 October 1996.

Later Realizations

During many months – during her prison visits and the court case in the late 1990s – Gallagher held onto his secret.

“There was no way share with her because had I told her back then, she must have to tell my sister: ‘Do not trouble yourselves arranging sureties for Michael because he is involved,’” Gallagher explained. “It was truly an difficult time.”

The hope of escaping conviction maintained his fiction until the court decided against him. Shortly after, when Attenborough visited to talk about plans for an appeal, he revealed his guilt.

In the beginning, I didn’t even know whether to accept his admission,” she recalled. “I thought, well, what account of the truth was correct?”

Distraught, she contemplated leaving the partnership, but in future encounters she took Gallagher’s apologies and rationalised his secret actions.

Clearly I was opposed with these actions with the organization. Yet, it wasn’t such a major part that he performed.”

Last Disclosures

While the creation of their memoir, he shared a further past deception to his companion: when he rapidly completed the crossword in her copy of the Guardian, he had earlier done it in another edition.