Ford Criticised As Third Prisoner Freed

The Stormont Justice Minister David Ford is under attack today after another prisoner was wrongly freed by the Prison Service.

Sean Gerard Cahill was released after appearing at Laganside Courts (pictured) on 24 November. He then failed to turn up at Lisburn Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

Mr Cahill is the third prisoner released in error from prison within the last two months.

He had been convicted and sentenced to one-month imprisonment on a charge of aggravated vehicle taking and he was released at that point due to the time that he had spent on remand awaiting trial.

However, Cahill should have been returned to custody pending a further hearing scheduled for Tuesday 30 November in relation to charges of robbery, possession of an offensive weapon and taking a vehicle without the owner's consent and the error only came to light when Cahill did not appear at Lisburn Magistrates' Court on Tuesday morning.

The DUP Chairman of the Assembly Justice Committee, Lord Morrow has described the incident as "absolutely scandalous" and has called for the inquiry announced by David Ford to be concluded in a speedy manner in order to find out who exactly is responsible for this monumental error.

"To lose one prisoner might be regarded as unfortunate but to release three in the space of two months is nothing short of scandalous.

"David Ford has announced that there will be an immediate inquiry. I welcome that, but any inquiry must report back within a matter of days rather than weeks or months in order to restore public confidence. If there are systemic problems here it is vital that the minister moves quickly to take necessary corrective measures," the DUP peer said.

"We need to know just who is responsible for this, whether it be the Courts Service or the Prison Service, serious repercussions will flow from this monumental error. It is disgraceful that someone should have been released in this way.

"The public demand answers and demand them quickly: any inquiry must report with immediate haste," said the DUP MLA.

Lord Morrow said he expected a statement from the minister in the assembly on Monday detailing "what had happened and how he intends putting it right".

"If I was the justice minister and having looked at the third case and it was a repeat of the previous that caused this then I would have to look at my position." he said this morning.

However, David Ford has already said "it is vital that we urgently find out why this has happened".

"If individuals are to blame I will move swiftly to take the appropriate action.

"I have demanded that a disciplinary investigation be launched immediately into this most serious matter.

"This is the third time in a matter of months that a prisoner has been released in error and I share the public anger that will naturally follow this latest serious incident," the Alliance Minister said.

The Ulster Unionist Justice Spokesman David McNarry has said that he is extremely concerned at the latest example of the erroneous release of a prisoner, the third in a matter of months.

The Strangford Assemblyman said: "Its not so long ago that the erroneous release of two prisoners was described as "shambolic" and serious questions were then asked of the Justice Minister

"I am deeply concerned at this latest development and I know these concerns will be shared by the general public who will simply not understand how this could happen so soon after the promises made in the aftermath of the last incident," he said.

"It is getting beyond a joke, and it is clear to me that the Justice Minister needs to get a grip on some of his officials and impress upon them that their primary concern is to protect the public and instill confidence in the justice system. So far they are failing miserably in this regard.

"Indeed its only in recent days that the Minister has given assurances that the cause of the erroneous release of the previous two prisoners hade been identified and would not happen again and that he was conducting a review to give effect to cancelling out such human error.

"He said it wouldn't happen again and my question to him is, does he have complete confidence in those entrusted with ensuring that prisoners do not abscond in this way."

Meanwhile, the Sinn Fein MLA and Justice Vice Chair, Raymond McCartney has said that the third prisoner release in two months points towards a culture of complacency that must be addressed in order to restore public confidence.

"There is a degree of disbelief that we have had two high profile cases recently surrounding the release of prisoners and now we are dealing with a third, all within two months.

"The Criminal Justice Inspectorate was asked to carry out an investigation as to how these two previous cases occurred.

"We were led to believe that this would bring an end to these type of incidents.

"However this has obviously been repeated and we will be seeking assurances from the Minister that some action will now be taken to ensure this cannot be allowed to happened again," he fumed.

"Alongside this there is also the concern that this incident took place last Wednesday yet we have only heard about it six days later.

"There is an apparent culture of complacency which has arisen that must be addressed in the strongest possible sense in order to restore public confidence."

(BMcC/KMcA)