Man who ‘assassinated’ garda refused temporary release

A man who "assassinated a Garda sergeant by shooting him in cold blood" has been refused temporary release and entry to a pre-release programme because of the nature of his crime, the High Court heard on Wednesday.

Michael McHugh has spent decades behind bars having been found guilty of the murder of Sgt Patrick Morrissey following an armed robbery in 1985.

He had initially been sentenced to death in December of that year. The sentence was commuted to 40 years' penal servitude by the then president Patrick Hillery only days before his appointment with the hangman.

McHugh, currently in Portlaoise Prison, has brought High Court challenges against the State arising out of his continued detention.

He seeks an order quashing the Minister’s “unfair and unreasonable” refusal on July 30th last to grant him temporary release and inclusion on a pre-release programme. The State opposed the application.

The case returned before the High Court on Wednesday when McHugh's lawyers asked Mr Justice Max Barrett for an order compelling the State to provide him with discovery of documents he claimed were relevant to his action. They sought all documents relating to his applications, including all material notes and memos considered by the Minister when making the decision to turn down his requests.

McHugh’s counsel Micheál Ó Higgins SC said there was a lack of transparency and “a certain opaqueness” from State parties in relation to his client’s applications. McHugh believed he was being singled out by the authorities.

Mr Ó Higgins said McHugh was not allowed out even on compassionate grounds to attend family funerals. It appeared to his client that the State parties were determined he would spend every single day of his sentence in custody.

He said while McHugh’s crime was an awful one, other prisoners who had spent lengthy periods in prison for similar crimes had been included in the programme or have been granted temporary release.

McHugh had also expressed a concern that bodies representing gardaí had made representations in regard to his applications for temporary release and inclusion on the programme.

The State, represented by barrister Paul Anthony McDermott, said McHugh’s applications had been turned down by the Minister on two grounds – firstly because of the serious nature of his crime when he “assassinated Sgt Morrissey in cold blood,” and because he had not engaged in any therapeutic assessments in prison. McHugh had not offered any insight into his actions and he had not given any reassurances he would not do the same thing again if released.

Judge Barrett said that, as the son of a Garda sergeant, he wanted to express his sympathies with the Morrissey family for their loss but ruled that McHugh was entitled to discovery of most of the materials he sought. He was not entitled to discovery of any communications received from An Garda Síochána or Garda representative bodies relating to McHugh's applications.

McHugh, of Clonalig, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh, and Noel Callan, Cullavill, Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, were convicted by the non-jury Special Criminal Court in December 1985 of the murder of Sgt Morrissey at Rathbrist, Tallanstown, on June 27th, 1985, following an armed robbery at Ardee labour exchange. Sgt Morrissey had initially been wounded by McHugh before he had then shot the unarmed garda in the head.

In other proceedings against the State, McHugh claims he is not being given credit for five months he spent in custody, between July 3rd and December 3rd, 1985, before his trial for Sgt Morrissey’s murder. If successful McHugh claims he would be entitled to immediate release from prison.