Michelle Williamson: Giving up her fight

In an interview for the Belfast Telegraph newspaper she said: "I have to stop now for the sake of my health. My doctor has told me I must.

"I just cannot go on. If I were to go on, I believe it would eventually kill me".

Her solicitor said no reasons had been given by the House of Lords when they refused Ms Williamson leave to appeal a High Court decision, which dismissed her challenge to the ceasefire ruling.

Her lawyers argued that as the IRA had not maintained a "complete and unequivocal ceasefire" as the law demanded, its prisoners were not entitled to benefit from the early release scheme as part of the Good Friday Agreement.

Sean Kelly: Due for release later this month

Ms Williamson, who lives in Lisburn is now refusing to hand over a 62,000-strong petition backing her demand for Kelly to remain in jail.

She said: "For me now it is over and the sickening thing is the way I have been treated and that my campaign has done no good.

"My feeling is now I would rather burn it than hand it over. All that work is for nothing.

"I feel I have let myself down. I find it very hard to do this, but I want to bow out with dignity.

"Wherever I go I am recognised. People whisper and come up to me. I feel I am living two lives: the campaigner for justice for my mother and father and an ordinary woman trying to look after my family."

Kelly, who is 26 and comes from the Ardoyne area of north Belfast, is due to be released on July 28.