Editorial: Authorities must keep tighter rein on offenders

The return of a murderer to a Northern Irish jail this week has prompted Doug Beattie to say that the system for managing the temporary release of prisoners isn't working (see page nine).

Many would agree.

The News Letter has frequently reported on serious criminals who have vanished while on bail, on compassionate release, or on a pre-release scheme near the end of their sentence.

But whilst not unique, James Meehan’s case is still remarkable – his de facto eight-month holiday in the Republic was the third time (that we know of) that he had disappeared.

Meehan – who had prior convictions for ABH – earned himself a 14-year sentence in 2009 for killing Jim McFadden in front of his wife and children, with a judge finding that he lacked “true remorse".

Nonetheless this violent man who had already fled during his trial in 2009, was put on a pre-release scheme in 2022, and fled again.

But what is especially hard to conceive of is how, even after he was recaptured, he was still considered eligible for the same scheme within a year of returning to custody.

Such disappearances must cause anguish for the families of the prisoners’ victims, and they do nothing to shore up public faith in the justice system at large.

The justice minister has asked for a review of how “to manage individuals who raise serious concerns during pre-release testing”.

This is welcome – even if, in this case, it amounts to shutting the stable door after the horse has repeatedly bolted.

The Prison Service naturally defends it pre-release policy, pointing out the valid motivation behind it.

If it can be tightened up further though then it could spare families like the McFaddens from enduring the limbo of someone being at large who has taken so much from them.