Minister to contest mother’s challenge to transfer of son’s killer to UK prison

The Minister for Justice is to fully contest a High Court challenge brought by the mother of murdered boxer Kevin Sheehy aimed at preventing her son’s killer from being transferred to a UK prison.

Mr Justice Charles Meenan was told on Thursday by Anne-Marie Lawlor SC, for the Minister, that her client was contesting the application brought by Tracey Tully, whose son, then 20, was killed at Hyde Road in Limerick on July 1st, 2019, for permission to bring her judicial review action.

Counsel also told the court that the Minister wants the matter heard as soon as possible.

The Irish champion boxer died after being repeatedly struck by a vehicle driven by Logan Jackson, of Longford Road, Coventry, England. Jackson was convicted of Mr Sheehy’s murder by a jury at the Central Criminal Court last December and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Can we finally say goodbye to shaming women for letting their hair go grey?

---

100 great restaurants and places to eat around Ireland this summer

---

Robert De Niro’s raging at Trump outside courthouse was an extraordinary moment in American public life

---

Midlands-North-West: Battle for final seat could end with a small party making a breakthrough

---

Following his conviction, 31-year-old Jackson successfully applied to Minister for Justice Helen McEntee for a transfer from Ireland to a prison in the UK, where he will serve out the remainder of his sentence.

When the matter returned before the court on Thursday, Mr Justice Meenan was told that the contested leave application should take about an hour to hear.

Lawyers for Jackson, who was made a notice party to the proceedings by the Court, said their client was currently detained in solitary confinement within the Irish prison system. He also wants the matter to be determined by the High Court as soon as possible.

The judge fixed the hearing of the action for July 15th.

No say

In her judicial review proceedings against the Minister for Justice, Ms Tully seeks an order from the court quashing the transfer decision.

She fears she will not have any say nor be able to make any submissions to the UK authorities when Jackson applies for parole if the transfer goes ahead.

She also claims any decision on a parole application by her son’s killer would be in the hands of the authorities in another jurisdiction.

Ms Tully, represented by Arthur Griffin BL claims the Minister’s decision to allow the transfer is unconstitutional and an “abdication of the Irish State’s responsibility to determine when a person serving a life sentence may be paroled”.

She also seeks various declarations, including that the proposed transfer breaches her rights under the 2017 Victim of Crime Act and was made outside of the Minister’s powers under the 2019 Parole Act.

She further seeks a declaration that the decision to transfer Jackson is unconstitutional as it removed the jurisdiction for sentencing Jackson from the Irish State and handed it over to another state.