( CNN ) -- Two Irish Republican Army dissidents were found guilty Friday of murdering a police officer in a killing that shocked Northern Ireland three years ago . Catholic constable Stephen Carroll , 48 , was shot dead when paramilitaries used an emergency call to lure police into an ambush in Craigavon , County Armagh , in March 2009 . The Continuity IRA admitted it set up the attack , which took place just 48 hours after two British soldiers were killed by another splinter group , the Real IRA , in an ambush outside an army base in Antrim , Northern Ireland . The killings led to ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness describing dissidents as `` traitors to Ireland '' -- a comment that led to his life being threatened by groups that contain old comrades . McGuinness is now deputy first minister in Northern Ireland 's power-sharing government and , along with the mainstream IRA , has renounced violence . One of those found guilty Friday of the police officer 's murder -- Brendan McConville , 40 -- was formerly an elected public representative of the Sinn Fein party led by McGuinness and Gerry Adams . The other man convicted -- John Paul Wootton , 20 -- was just 17 at the time of Carroll 's killing . Both men are from the district where the gun attack took place . The accused chose not to take the stand to defend themselves , but through their lawyers maintained their innocence throughout the nine-week trial at Belfast Crown Court . However , Friday , the judge , Lord Justice Paul Girvan , said forensic and witness evidence proved the men were `` intimately involved '' in the killing . The judge added that both defendants were `` active and committed supporters of a republican campaign of violence . '' Girvan branded the killing `` callous and cowardly '' and said Carroll was shot dead simply because he was a police officer . The judge said the two murderers deserved life in prison . The minimum amount of time they must serve before being considered for release from prison will be set at a future hearing . Constable Carroll 's widow , Kate , embraced her son when the guilty verdicts were delivered . Wootton 's mother had in February pleaded guilty to obstructing the investigation into the killing . Sharon Wootton , 39 , admitted moving computer equipment from her home to another address after police raids on the house . Carroll was the first member of the Police Service of Northern Ireland to be murdered on duty . The force was called the Royal Ulster Constabulary before a reorganization in 2001 . Over 300 members of the constabulary were killed and almost 9,000 were injured during the Northern Ireland conflict between pro-British and pro-Irish forces . IRA splinter groups have remained active since the signing of the Good Friday peace agreement in 1998 .
Catholic dissidents John McConville , 40 , and John Paul Wootton , 20 , are found guilty . Catholic constable Stephen Carroll , 48 , was shot dead in 2009 . The prosecution says this suggests the men were ` ` intimately involved '' in the killings .