On 25 September 1983 McKearney took part in the Maze Prison escape along with 37 other prisoners. At the beginning of 1984 he rejoined IRA activity in his native East Tyrone with the Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade. He advocated the commencement of the "third phase" of the armed struggle, the 'strategic defensive', in which the Royal Ulster Constabulary, Ulster Defence Regiment and British Army would be denied all support in selected areas following repeated attacks on their bases. In 1985 Patrick Kelly became commander of the Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade and it was under his leadership that this strategy was pursued. Remote Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) bases were attacked and destroyed, and building contractors who tried to repair them were targeted and sometimes murdered, as occurred with the attack on the Ballygawley police station in December 1985, which killed two policemen, and The Birches police station in August 1986.