A serial absconder who bashed a teenager to death with a metal pipe is now back in custody in Northern Ireland, and a call has been made to ensure he is charged with absconding.

Thomas McCabe was today extradited to Northern Ireland from the Republic of Ireland, where he had been detained since August.

He had gone on-the-run in summer 2023 while on temporary day release from Maghaberry.

But that was at least the seventh time McCabe had been "unlawfully at large" since being jailed for murder.

placeholder image — Two images of serial absconder Thomas McCabe

He had last absconded in 2018, when it took two years to recapture him (on that occasion too he fled to the Republic).

At that time he was out on licence, but it was revoked for breaches of terms.

Given his history, TUV leader and barrister Jim Allister said "it begs the question why was he put back on a temporary release scheme" in 2023.

He said McCabe should now face a criminal charge for absconding.

"Escaping from lawful custody – or not keeping to his parole terms if he's on parole – are criminal offences in themselves, so he should be dealt with for those which would add to his incarceration," said Mr Allister.

"Secondly, it should surely cause any future parole board to be disinclined to give him parole."

Asked if he would be charged with absconding, the PSNI said simply: "McCabe has been returned to prison."

And the PPS told the News Letter: "There is nothing coming up on our system indicating that we have received a file in relation to this. We can only take a decision to prosecute when we receive an investigation file from police reporting an individual for an alleged offence, so you would need to start with them."

McCabe, originally from Northern Ireland, was convicted in 1990 of murdering Richard Hunt, the 18-year-old cousin of McCabe's 19-year-old girlfriend.

McCabe was 26 at the time, and did not know who the victim was.

McCabe, drunk, had entered his girlfriend's flat, found the 18-year-old there, and assumed his girlfriend was cheating with him.

A pathologist found McCabe hit the teenager at least eight times in the face and head with a two-foot-long metal scaffolding pole.

An account of the murder scene from McCabe's girlfriend reads as follows: "[McCabe] smiled at her and then walked into the bathroom. She found her cousin lying in an armchair covered in blood. She touched his hand but he did not move.

"She met [McCabe] who said: 'Have you got a towel for my hands?'

"She called to a friend to phone the police. [McCabe] kept walking in and out of the living room. He was just laughing.

"She told him that she was going to have him arrested.

"He said: 'It only takes a letter to come out of the prison and you’ll be blown away. You and your baby…”

One year before the murder, McCabe had been released from a 15-month sentence for robbing a vagrant.

He was given a life sentence for the murder (meaning he can be recalled to jail at any time for breaching terms of his licence), and was told to serve a minimum of 11 years in jail.

He was kept in jail past his minimum term though because he was judged to be a danger to the public, and was then let out on licence some time after 2007.

Going by court documents and information from the Department of Justice, he has been unlawfully at large a minimum of seven times since 1990.

In 2020, during one of the periods he was missing, the Department of Justice had mistakenly taken him off the online list of wanted people.

It reinstated him three days after the News Letter pointed it out to them.

More here: Golf club murderer on the loose as details emerge of two new 'unlawfully at large' prisoners

The News Letter has asked the Department of Justice last year why he keeps getting let out when he absconds.

It said at the time: "Prisoners approaching the end of their sentence will be tested prior to release back into the community.

"Those individuals will have fully engaged in a number of previous tests, which challenge and support them to make positive change in their lives.

"After being fully assessed, they begin a graduated release programme into the community, firstly under supervision then progressing to short time bounded periods of unaccompanied release where they work in the community.

“Preparing people for release is a vital part of rehabilitation as it reduces their risk of re-offending which helps to make the community safer. Those participating in this release programme are less likely to re-offend.

"Like any test, unfortunately, failure is part of the process."