Rose Dugdale, the East Devon-born aristocrat who led a notorious IRA art heist, has died at the age of 82.

The rebellious former debutante was born at Yarty Farm near Honiton, her family’s 600-acre estate. She graduated from Oxford University, but turned her back on a life of privilege to join the IRA in the 1970s.

She was the ringleader of the IRA raid on the Russborough House estate in Co Wicklow in 1974, in which 19 valuable paintings were stolen.

She was involved in other IRA operations, including a failed bid to drop bombs on to a police station in Northern Ireland using a helicopter hijacked in Co Donegal.

Dugdale was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison for her IRA activities. She was pregnant at the time and gave birth to a son inside Limerick prison.

She spent her final years at a care home in Dublin, where she died on March 18.

Her death came just before the release of a film telling the story of the art heist, called Baltimore.

Actress Imogen Poots plays Rose Dugdale in the thriller directed by Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy.