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15/01/2019
Loyalist Killer Michael Stone Must Spend Longer In Prison
Notorious loyalist killer Michael Stone is to remain in prison until 2024 before he can be considered eligible for release, according to a new High Court ruling.
Judges held that the Department of Justice (DoJ) had wrongly determined that the bomber would now be eligible to seek freedom from jail.
Their verdict, in a legal challenge taken by the sister of one of Mr Stone's victims, came as he was set to go before the Parole Commissioners.
The hearing has now been put on hold pending any further appeals.
Mr Justice McCloskey, sitting with Mr Justice Colton, said a six-year period the ex-UDA man spent out on licence before he launched an attempt to murder Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness at Stormont in 2006 should not count towards his 30-year minimum term of imprisonment.
He had been freed under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement in 2000.
Quashing the DoJ's decision, Mr Justice McCloskey confirmed: "The earliest date upon which Mr Stone might be released on parole licence will fall around July 2024."
Deborah McGuinness, whose brother Thomas McErlean was murdered in the Milltown Cemetery bomb in 1988 along with two others, took the case to ensure Mr Stone served his full sentence of 30 years.
(JG/CM)
Judges held that the Department of Justice (DoJ) had wrongly determined that the bomber would now be eligible to seek freedom from jail.
Their verdict, in a legal challenge taken by the sister of one of Mr Stone's victims, came as he was set to go before the Parole Commissioners.
The hearing has now been put on hold pending any further appeals.
Mr Justice McCloskey, sitting with Mr Justice Colton, said a six-year period the ex-UDA man spent out on licence before he launched an attempt to murder Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness at Stormont in 2006 should not count towards his 30-year minimum term of imprisonment.
He had been freed under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement in 2000.
Quashing the DoJ's decision, Mr Justice McCloskey confirmed: "The earliest date upon which Mr Stone might be released on parole licence will fall around July 2024."
Deborah McGuinness, whose brother Thomas McErlean was murdered in the Milltown Cemetery bomb in 1988 along with two others, took the case to ensure Mr Stone served his full sentence of 30 years.
(JG/CM)
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