Massereene shooting: Gunman Brian Shivers had cystic fibrosis and knew his days were numbered

BRIAN Shivers knew he had only three or four years to live as he plotted to gun down two soldiers about to depart for Afghanistan.

Doctors told the gang member of his imminent death from cystic fibrosis four months before sappers Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey were shot dead.

Unemployed Shivers, 46, was part of a large family from the south Derry area, a part Northern Ireland steeped in traditional republicanism and a bulwark of the IRA’s 30-year campaign. With the development of cystic fibrosis, he ate Chinese and fatty foods in a battle to maintain his weight, even though it could take him much longer than others to dine.

He also battled the impact on his digestive system, spending long periods in the bathroom.

Despite his terminal condition, at the time of the attack, Shivers was trying to conceive a child with fiancee Lisa Leacock.