Justice minister 'deeply concerned' over temporary release of convicted killer

The justice minister remains "deeply concerned" about the circumstances surrounding the temporary release of a convicted murderer.

The NI Prison Service (NIPS) refused Gary Anderson permission to attend his father's funeral but that decision was quashed by the courts.

Anderson was released on Monday from Maghaberry Prison to attend the funeral but absconded and remains at large.

He is one of two brothers jailed for life in 2023 for the 2018 murder of Karol Kelly in Londonderry.

The court service has now published the full 15 page judgement from the judicial review. It reveals the decision to refuse Anderson's request to attend the funeral was taken by the duty governor at Maghaberry Prison.

But the judge found that that decision "was based upon inaccurate information which was material to the key issue of the potential risks posed by the applicant".

"The information which was considered was also materially disadvantageous to the applicant."

That's a reference to an internal assessment of the likelihood of Anderson reoffending, which was wrongly recorded at a higher level than recorded in the internal system.

A legal representative for the prison service admitted to the court that "information containing an increased score came, not from the duty governor's personal knowledge, but from a colleague. When the system was checked, the score was sitting at 27 (medium likelihood) and not 32 (high likelihood) as stated in the decision letter."

The judge, Mr Justice Rooney, found "the duty governor clearly took account of this incorrect information when making his own risk assessment and when conducting a proportionality assessment".

He invited the duty governor to review the decision but that offer was declined, in a move the judge described as "somewhat surprising".

In a statement, the Justice department said that "this opportunity was not communicated by legal representatives to those within NIPS who held responsibility for the decision".

"Updates provided to NIPS following the hearing, including legal readouts, did not indicate such an opportunity had been offered."

Mr Justice Rooney granted Anderson temporary release with a number of conditions attached after finding that the prison service's decision was "flawed" and took into account "irrelevant and incorrect factors". He added "the failure to secure and take account of the correct risk assessment is unlawful".

The department said Minister Naomi Long "remains deeply concerned surrounding compassionate temporary release of Gary Anderson and his subsequent absconding".

Following a review of the case, further information emerged regarding the handling of the case.

"As soon as the minister was made aware of these issues, she instructed the director general of the Northern Ireland Prison Service to undertake an urgent investigation into these matters."

"The minister is clear that it is important that all relevant facts are established and considered carefully, and she intends to update the assembly at the earliest opportunity as to the actions she will be taking to ensure that this happens."

'Catastrophic and inexplicable failures'

Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader, Jon Burrows described the judgement as "damning" adding "it exposes catastrophic and inexplicable failures in senior decision-making, procedure and record-keeping at Maghaberry Prison".

"The substantive decision to refuse Gary Anderson compassionate temporary release was, in my view, clearly correct. His subsequent absconding has only underlined the serious risk he presented.

"However, that decision was catastrophically undermined by incorrect information, missing records and an extraordinary refusal to reconsider it when the court provided an opportunity to do so.

"This was not a minor administrative error. The incorrect information went directly to the assessment of the risk posed by a convicted murderer and was expressly relied upon in refusing his release.

"The decision collapsed because it relied upon materially incorrect information, the assessment supposedly supporting it could not be produced and the duty governor refused the opportunity to reconsider.

"The family of Karol Kelly and the wider public deserve the full truth, urgent accountability and firm action to ensure that this can never happen again."