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The Justice Minister remains profoundly troubled by the circumstances surrounding the compassionate temporary release of Gary Anderson, a convicted murderer who subsequently absconded. Anderson, serving a 15-year sentence for the 2018 murder of Karol Kelly in Londonderry, was initially denied permission by the Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS) to attend his father’s funeral. However, this refusal was overturned by the courts, leading to his release on Monday from Maghaberry Prison. Since his release, Anderson has failed to return and remains at large.
A full 15-page judgement from the recent judicial review has shed light on the decision-making process behind the original refusal. The court found that the duty governor at Maghaberry Prison based the refusal on “inaccurate information which was material to the key issue of the potential risks posed by the applicant.” Specifically, an internal risk assessment concerning Anderson’s likelihood to reoffend was recorded at a higher risk level than the actual internal records indicated. The prison service’s legal representative confirmed that the erroneous higher score was communicated from a colleague, not the duty governor’s direct knowledge. The judge, Mr Justice Rooney, noted that this incorrect information influenced the duty governor’s risk and proportionality assessments. When invited to reconsider the decision upon this revelation, the duty governor declined, which the judge called “somewhat surprising.”
Further statements from the Justice Department acknowledged that the opportunity to review the decision was “not communicated by legal representatives to those within NIPS who held responsibility for the decision.” Following the hearing, updates provided to NIPS did not reflect that such an opportunity had been offered. Mr Justice Rooney granted Anderson temporary release with several conditions, citing that the prison service’s original decision was “flawed” due to the consideration of “irrelevant and incorrect factors,” describing the failure to incorporate the accurate risk assessment as unlawful. In response, Minister Naomi Long has expressed deep concern over the situation and has instructed an urgent investigation led by the Director General of the Northern Ireland Prison Service to establish all pertinent facts and consider them thoroughly. The minister intends to update the assembly on forthcoming actions to prevent recurrence.
The ruling has drawn strong criticism from political figures, including Ulster Unionist Party leader Jon Burrows, who described the judgement as “damning.” He highlighted the “catastrophic and inexplicable failures in senior decision-making, procedure and record-keeping at Maghaberry Prison.” Burrows emphasized that while the initial refusal of compassionate release “was clearly correct,” the decision was fatally compromised by incorrect information, missing records, and the refusal to reconsider the case when the court provided a chance to do so. He argued that this was not a mere administrative oversight, but a fundamental failure involving the risk evaluation of a convicted murderer that led to flawed outcomes. He has called for full transparency, urgent accountability, and decisive measures to ensure such errors cannot happen in the future, underscoring the need for justice for the family of Karol Kelly and public safety
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
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