Soldiers' killer's jail move hope

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A Belfast man who has served 24 years in prison for the murder of three of his Irish Army colleagues could be transferred to Northern Ireland.

Prison chiefs in Northern Ireland have agreed to accept Michael McAleavey, 45, from Mountjoy Jail in Dublin. He could be in Northern Ireland by Christmas.

However, the final decision lies with the Irish government.

McAleavey received a life sentence for the 1982 killings in Lebanon, where the soldiers were UN peacekeepers.

He shot fellow privates Peter Burke and Thomas Murphy and Corporal Gary Morrow at Tibnin Bridge, South Lebanon on 27 October 1982.

McAleavey, from west Belfast, originally said his unit had been attacked by Lebanese gunmen but later admitted that he had "cracked" under a combination of pressure and heat exhaustion and killed his colleagues.

He is one of the longest serving prisoners in Ireland.

He has fought for several years to be repatriated to Northern Ireland, so that he can be closer to his family.

If he is successful on this occasion, he will then apply to the Life Sentence Review board to win his release.

NI Prisons Minister Paul Goggins has confirmed that he has no objections to the transfer.

The matter now lies with the Republic's Justice Minister Michael McDowell.

Michael McAleavey killed three other Irish Army soldiers

McAleavey's solicitor, Joe Rice said he hoped that the transfer could be dealt with as quickly as possible, on humanitarian grounds, given the age of his client's father.

"He has served his time, he has been a model prisoner in the Irish prison system and that is accepted by the many reports over the years," Mr Rice said.

The solicitor said that it seemed that his client was getting a raw deal compared to paramilitary killers who were released early as part of the peace process.

"If he had joined one of the illegal armies in Northern Ireland and had been convicted, he would have been released under the Good Friday Agreement," he said.

"But because he joins the legitimate army of the Irish Republic, he finds himself in this situation."

The families of his victims and the Irish military authorities are understood, however, to be opposed to any relocation out of the state.

Despite indications from the Irish government from as far back as 1993 that McAleavey was to be released, he remains in Mountjoy prison.

Speaking to Belfast newspaper, the Irish News, last year, in what was his first newspaper interview in 22 years, McAleavey insisted that his call for repatriation was not meant to hurt his victims' families.

"In all my 22 years in prison I have never sought publicity," he said.

"One of the major reasons for this is that I have always reflected on how an open appeal in the media would affect the families of the soldiers who were killed. I have hoped never to add to the burden of their suffering.

"And I hope that this appeal is seen only for what it is, a humanitarian application for transfer to another prison that is close to my family."

A Northern Ireland Prison Service spokesman said: "We will take him and we are about to inform the Department of Justice in the Republic that is the case, but the final decision as to whether he will be allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence in Northern Ireland rests with them."