McAleavey not yet eligible for parole

A controversial case for it's time. I would have thought he'd have been released years ago but it's nice to see justice being done for once.

Quote :

McAleavey not yet eligible for parole Thursday, 10 July 2008


A man who has served 26 years in prison for the murder of three of his Irish army colleagues must serve at least another year at Maghaberry Prison before he can apply to be considered for parole.

Northern Ireland's most senior judge, Lord Chief Justice Brian Kerr, ruled that Michael McAleavey should serve a minimum sentence of 27 years.
Until last year he was imprisoned at Mountjoy Jail in Dublin, serving a life sentence for murdering Corporal Gary Morrow, Private Peter Burke and Private Thomas Murphy.
They had been on UN peacekeeping duties in Lebanon when shot dead by McAleavey on 27 October 1982.
There is no system of tariffs for life sentence prisoners in Ireland.
When McAleavey was transferred to Northern Ireland last October it fell to Lord Chief Justice Kerr to decide what length of time he should serve in prison before being entitled to be considered for parole.
McAleavey's solicitor, Joe Rice, said his client accepted the decision.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0710/mcaleaveym.html

Lestat wrote:

A controversial case for it's time. I would have thought he'd have been released years ago but it's nice to see justice being done for once.

Quote :

McAleavey not yet eligible for parole
Thursday, 10 July 2008


A man who has served 26 years in prison for the murder of three of his Irish army colleagues must serve at least another year at Maghaberry Prison before he can apply to be considered for parole.

Northern Ireland's most senior judge, Lord Chief Justice Brian Kerr, ruled that Michael McAleavey should serve a minimum sentence of 27 years.
Until last year he was imprisoned at Mountjoy Jail in Dublin, serving a life sentence for murdering Corporal Gary Morrow, Private Peter Burke and Private Thomas Murphy.
They had been on UN peacekeeping duties in Lebanon when shot dead by McAleavey on 27 October 1982.
There is no system of tariffs for life sentence prisoners in Ireland.
When McAleavey was transferred to Northern Ireland last October it fell to Lord Chief Justice Kerr to decide what length of time he should serve in prison before being entitled to be considered for parole.
McAleavey's solicitor, Joe Rice, said his client accepted the decision.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0710/mcaleaveym.html

What's the story here Lestat?

More or less what's above. McAleavey was on duty at an isolated checkpoint in Lebanon and for reasons known to himself he shot dead the three lads that were on duty with him. His story is that he had an argument with the CP Commander, Gregory Morrow, because an Israeli patrol was allowed through the CP. McAleavey later admitted to being anti-semitic. During the argument he turned his rifle on his three comrades. He then radioed for help. He first claimed that the Israelis had killed the three men and then that it had been done by the Lebanese. He stuck to this story for three months while he was under arrest in Lebanon. Eventually, in January 1983, the army flew a couple of Garda interrogators to Lebanon who got the story out of him. He was repatriated and detained in the Curragh where he claimed that an attempt was made to poison him. His court martial started in June 1983 and lasted 3 months. He was found guilty and sentenced to penal servitude for life. He was discharged from the army and did his time in Mountjoy, Limerick and Portlaois prisons beofre being moved to the North last year as he is from Belfast.
The three men he murdered were Cpl Gregory Morrow aged 20 from Lurgan, Pte Peter Burke aged 19 from Kilmainham and Pte Thomas Murphy aged 19 from Glasnevin.

Do I recall that he wanted to be moved to the North to be near his father (?) who was terminally ill? I'm sure that I remember a female relative of one of the victims being very angry that he was being given a chance to be near a family member when someone in their family had been taken away from them.