Convicted murderer had detention conditions breached, High Court declares

Convicted murderer Warren Dumbrell has been granted a High Court declaration that his detention conditions have on occasion been breached.

Dumbrell (44), along with his brother Jeffrey, is serving a life sentence for the fatal stabbing of a father of six.

Dumbrell, formerly of Emmet Place, Incihcore, Dublin was described in a High Court hearing as a violent and particularly challenging prisoner with a poor disciplinary record, and has for a number of years, been detained away from the mainstream prison population.

For Dumbrell, the declaration by Ms Justice Miriam O’Regan will have little effect on his detention regime apart from being kept informed more often and in more detail as to the reasons behind his continued segregation.

The Dumbrells were found guilty by a jury at the Central Criminal Court of the murder of 33-year-old Christopher Cawley who they chased in October 2006. They trapped Cawley in a stairwell at Tyrone Place Flats, Inchicore - where their victim lived, and repeatedly stabbed him, leaving him to bleed to death in front of his wife and two of his children.

During Dumbrell’s High Court challenge against his detention conditions, it was revealed that he had been considered to be a most volatile and dangerous prisoner and had accumulated 51 discipline charges.

Judge O’Regan noted in a reserved judgment that although there was considerable controversy between the parties as to the circumstances of Dumbrell’s incarceration, it did appear that for a long number of years he had been detained away from the mainstream prison population.

Intimidating personality

The prison authorities had argued that this had arisen because of his behaviour which, since 2015 had deteriorated and his personality had changed in such a manner as to his becoming more intimidating. Moving him to the mainstream prison population would negatively impact on his behaviour, the authorities said.

Mr Michael Lynn SC, who appeared with barrister Keith Spencer and solicitor John Quinn for the prisoner, had told the court that reports showed he had made positive changes by a reduction in violence and other previously challenging behaviour. He said Dumbrell had made great strides to improving his relations with those he was in contact with.

In the initial application for leave for judicial review of Dumbrell’s detention conditions, Mr Micheal P O’Higgins SC said his client believed his conditions related to an incident in 1997 when he was one of several inmates involved in a siege at Mountjoy Prison. In the incident, prison officers were taken hostage and threatened and Dumbrell received a 10-year prison sentence for his role in it.

Conor Devally SC, who appeared with barrister Gráinne Mullan for the prison authorities, told the court that while the applicant had been incarcerated in the Midlands Prison prior to his application, he had since been moved to Portlaoise Prison.

Mr Devally had argued that insofar as the applicant complained of unnatural confinement over an 11-year period, this stemmed from the complexity of the challenges posed by him and the threats he had made.

Judge O’Regan stated that the applicant’s claim for relief should not be denied to him merely because of his behaviour which ultimately created the need for the Midlands Prison to implement a tighter regime in managing him.

She granted Dumbrell a declaration that the prison had, on occasion, breached Rule 62 of the Prison Rules which, among other things, directed that a prison governor shall conduct a review not less than once in seven days to determine whether a direction limiting a prisoner’s activities might be revoked and inform the prisoner of the outcome of such reviews.