It’s emerged that a prisoner who escaped from an open prison earlier this month had absconded from the same facility once before.
The Department of Justice has released details of a report from the Irish Prison Service on the escape of Martin McDermott from Loughan House in Co. Cavan on the 15th of March.
The 25 year old from Raphoe in Co. Donegal, who was serving a sentence for the manslaughter of Garda Gary McLoughlin in December 2009, was arrested in Derry the following day.
Minister Alan Shatter said that having considered the case, the decision to transfer the prisoner from the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise to an open centre in Cavan was wrong, and that sufficient consideration had not been given to the gravity of the heinous offence which had been committed.
The Prison Service report also shows that Martin McDermott was previously in custody at Loughan House in 2007, and that he absconded from there on the 27th of November that year.
He returned to custody 6 days later, on December the 3rd.
+
