Lay it to rest; MP calls for an end to Meibion Glynd3/4r probe.

Byline: By ROLAND HUGHES

A 19-MONTH probe by North Wales Police into the Meibion Glynd3/4r firebombing campaign has failed to yield any new arrests - prompting calls for the matter to be laid to rest.

Holiday homes across North Wales were targeted in a 14year arson campaign stretching back to the late 1970s.

Last March, deputy chief constable Clive Wolfendale revealed the force was to reinvestigate the campaign using new technology.

Mr Wolfendale yesterday said no further arrests had been made as a result of reopening the case, but he added the probe was "ongoing."

Meirionnydd Nant Conwy MP Elfyn Llwyd, who defended an arson suspect at the time, said it was time to let the matter rest.

"I think the chief constable should leave this alone now and I have spoken to him about the sensitivity of it," he said.

The news comes as a drama by Dewi Prysor Williams, one of the men remanded in custody over the arson campaign, starts a tour through North Wales.

The Trawsfynydd man spent 14 months in custody on suspicion of being part of the hate campaign, but was found not guilty of involvement with Meibion Glyndwr in March 1993In an interview with the Daily Post's Welsh language supplement Yr Herald today, he describes how he drew inspiration from his time in prison to write the drama, titled DW2416.

The first holiday home was targeted by the firebombers in 1979, and over the next 14 years the group struck more than 200 targets.

The focus of the group's attacks centred on holiday homes, seen as a protest against English immigration into Wales, and second-home owners who were pushing local people out of the market.

Other targets included caravans, cars, boats and estate agents' shops.

The police came under fire at the time for failing to catch any suspects behind the attacks for a long period.

Only one man - Sion Aubrey Roberts, of Gwalchmai, Anglesey, was ever sentenced for his part in the campaign.

He was given 12 years in 1993 for sending incendiary devices through the post, but as he was a youngster when the first house was bombed, it was accepted he was not the only member of Meibion Glyndwr.

Last year, Meirionnydd Nant Conwy MP Elfyn Llwyd said he suspected members of the security services may have played an active role in the firebombing campaign