Garda’s killer is allowed take case over early release

A GARDA-KILLER due to be released at Christmas has won permission to take a legal case against the State for refusing to grant him temporary release.

Michael McHugh has been in jail ever since he shot unarmed father-of-four Sergeant Patrick Morrissey in a 1985 murder that shocked the nation.

He claims he has been institutionalised in prison.

McHugh was initially sentenced to death in 1985 amid public outrage surrounding his crime. But his punishment was later commuted to a 40-year sentence without remission.

However, the Supreme Court has since ruled that prisoners convicted of capital murder are entitled to remission. He will be released for good this December.

In a new High Court case, McHugh is demanding periods of temporary release between now and December to ‘enable him to reintegrate back into society.’

Last week, the High Court’s Judge Carmel Stewart refused to immediately grant McHugh permission to launch the civil action before the State had a chance to respond. Now, Judge Paul McDermott has cleared the way for McHugh to take the High Court challenge after hearing arguments from both sides. The judge gave the prisoner permission to challenge Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald’s refusal to place him on a ‘pre-release’ programme that would instantly entitle him to periods of temporary release.

McHugh claims that Ms Fitzgerald ‘pre-judged’ his case before refusing him temporary release and that she has exercised her powers in an ‘unfair and arbitrary’ manner.

McHugh, who is serving his sentence at the maximum-security Portlaoise Prison, was not brought to court for the hearing.

The case will come before the High Court again in September.

In 2012, ‘Black Widow’ Catherine Nevin – who has been serving life for her husband Tom’s murder since 2000 – was granted temporary release to attend a college course in addiction studies with a view to her eventual release.

In his current lawsuit, McHugh claims he has been ‘singled out for discriminatory treatment’ by Minister Fitzgerald’s decision to keep him locked up for the rest of his sentence. Last week, McHugh’s barrister Micheal P O’Higgins told the court McHugh had ‘effectively become institutionalised’ over the past three decades behind bars, adding: ‘Others have been given clemency and temporary release granted to them. Mr McHugh has not.’

Sgt Morrissey, a one-time tenor in the Garda choir, was on his way to Ardee courthouse in Co. Louth in June 1985 when word reached him that a robbery had taken place at the town’s employment exchange.

The 49-year-old garda set off in pursuit of McHugh and his accomplice Noel Callan but was gunned down by McHugh near Rathbrist House at Tallanstown.

McHugh shot him twice, killing him with a shot to the head.

Just over two years ago, Callan won a civil action to be granted the same remission rights as any other prison inmate.

Both men are on 40-year sentences that would have expired in 2025. But with one-quarter remission, they will both be freed by the end of the year.

Separately, McHugh is taking a legal action seeking his immediate release from jail.

Judge McDermott said he will give judgment on that case – in which McHugh claims he should have been released by July 1 last – at a later date.

‘He has become institutionalised’