Adrian Ismay murder: Prison officer killer Christopher Robinson loses appeal against jail term

Senior judges rejected claims that the sentence imposed on Christopher Robinson for participating in the fatal car bomb attack in March 2016 should be reduced because psychiatric issues left him vulnerable to exploitation.

Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan declared that personal mitigation has little role to play in a terrorist crime for which the 51-year-old has shown no remorse.

She said: “We accept that the appellant experienced a fractured life and continues to experience some difficulties.

“However, he was also intimately involved in the execution and pre-planning of this callous murder.”

Mr Ismay, 52, suffered serious leg injuries when the device exploded under the van he was driving near his home at Hillsborough Drive in the Castlereagh area of east Belfast.

Despite an apparent initial recovery, the father-of-three died 11 days later.

Dissident grouping the New IRA claimed responsibility for carrying out the attack.

Robinson, from Aspen Walk in Dunmurry, west Belfast, knew Mr Ismay from their time volunteering together for St John Ambulance.

He denied any involvement in the bombing, but at a non-jury trial in 2020 he was found guilty of murder and possessing explosives with intent to endanger life.

A circumstantial case against him involved CCTV footage of a Citroen C3 car - registered in the name of a relative - used to transport the device.

Robinson’s DNA was found on the edge of a poppy appeal sticker recovered from a rubbish bin at the vehicle owner’s home.

The Remembrance Day emblem was said to have been put on the windscreen of the C3 in a cynical ploy to ensure the car would not appear out of place in east Belfast.

Following a previous failed challenge to his murder conviction, Robinson returned to the Court of Appeal in a bid to secure a reduced prison tariff.

Defence lawyers argued that his life has been blighted by depression, alcoholism, post-traumatic stress disorder, hallucinations and repeated suicide attempts.

Based on a psychiatrist’s assessment, it was contended that he had withdrawn from reality and been manipulated by others who plotted the bomb attack.

Those personal circumstances should have led to the trial judge reducing the sentence imposed on him, according to his legal team.

However, the court backed prosecution submissions that Robinson was integrally involved in the targeting, planning and carrying out of a politically motivated crime which claimed the life of Mr Ismay.

“The death of a serving prison officer has a particularly chilling effect upon our society,” Dame Siobhan said.

“The profound personal effects are also clear from the victim impact statements from Mr Ismay’s family which reflect the great loss they have suffered and the effect of his death upon them.”

Suggestions that Robinson’s culpability should be reduced because of his previous “good deeds” were also rejected.

“That is particularly so given his lack of remorse or regret for his actions,” the Lady Chief Justice said.

Dismissing his appeal against sentence, she confirmed: “We consider that the minimum term of 22 years reflects the especially serious nature of this terrorist offence against a prison officer.

“In this jurisdiction such lengthy sentences should be applied to offences of this nature not least to mark our society’s abhorrence of such terrorist crimes.”