Conviction: possession of a weapon
Sentence: 14 years
Joined Hunger Strike: 9th May
Suicided 8th July

Born on the Falls Road as the youngest child in a family of 10, Joe McDonnell is claimed not to have been involved with the paramilitaries in the early part of his life, but would later go on to meet Gerry Adams and Bobby Sands. In 1970 he married and moved to Lenadoon, a largely Protestant estate, where it's said his house was attacked on numerous occasions.

Despite claims he wasn't involved with terrorist groups, he was interned on the HMS Maidstone which is where he would meet Gerry Adams, a meeting that no doubt had a huge influence on the direction of his life. When he was released he joined the Belfast brigade of the IRA.

By the time he was arrested again in 1976 he had been involved in multiple bomb attacks - a popular story among republican websites being of how he joked as a car he was travelling in with other "volunteers" and several bombs started to fill up with smoke. He was arrested with Bobby Sands in 1976 when the pair were involved in a 9 man firebomb attack on the Balmoral Furnishing Company furniture store near Twinbrook.

After firing at police and army personnel at the scene, McDonnell, Sands and 2 others were caught trying to flee in a car and arrested and charged with posession of a revolver also found in the vehicle. When the men all refused to recognise the court (and also therefore, to defend themselves) they were all sentenced to 14 years in prison.