THE Department of Justice is investigating a report that a prisoner who escaped from custody last Monday had been drinking in a Co Wicklow pub with a prison officer the previous day.
John Cunningham, who was serving a 17 year sentence for the kidnapping of Mrs Jennifer Guinness in 1986, absconded from Shelton Abbey open prison in Arklow. Cunningham (45), from Kingswood heights, Tallaght, is still at large.
According to the Tallaght Echo, he was in the pub with the prison officer last Sunday when they were seen by a senior member of the prison service and his wife. The Echo reported that a planned 90 minute "excursion" to the pub was cut short when the senior officer appeared. Cunningham was convicted along with four other men for his part in the kidnapping of Mrs Guinness. She was seized from her home in Howth, Co Dublin, by an armed gang which demanded a £2 million ransom, and was held for eight days until the kidnappers were found by gardai at Waterloo Road.
Earlier this week, Mrs Guinness said the authorities should have told her of Cunningham's escape. As chairwoman of the Victim Support organisation she campaigns for the victims of crime to be informed when offenders are being released or have escaped from custody.
Fianna Fail has called for a review of all detention procedures and said Cunningham's escape has undermined public confidence in the criminal justice system.