Murderer of Mayo woman seeks time to appeal for days out of jail

IRELAND'S longest-serving prisoner is seeking extra time for an appeal after his unsuccessful High Court bid for two days’ temporary release each year, the Sunday Times has reported today.

John Shaw, 73 from England, has been in custody in Ireland since September 1976, when both he and another Englishman, Geoffrey Evans, were arrested for the rape and murder of Elizabeth Plunkett, 23, in Wicklow and Mary Duffy, 24, in Mayo that year.

Shaw and Evans were both given life sentences in 1978. Evans died in 2012.

Over the years, Shaw’s case has been looked at by the Sentence Review Group and subsequently the Parole Board.

In April 2016, the Prison Review Committee noted that Shaw was “very frustrated that he had never got a day out of prison in his 38 years in custody.”

The following June, a risk assessment of Shaw found him to be at a “high risk of reoffending.”

In 2016, the Parole Board recommended that Shaw remain in Arbour Hill prison to allow fast access to medical treatment and that he be granted two days of escorted outings a year.

The justice minister did not support the recommendation for the escorted outings, which Shaw’s lawyers challenged in the High Court.

In a judgment last March, Ms Justice Mary Faherty said she was satisfied that Shaw had been afforded all of fair treatment procedures due to him.

She said Shaw had interviews with two members of the board and that he had taken issue with aspects of the process, including his claim that the interviewing officers had raised matters he claimed were outside their remit.

Ms Justice Faherty dismissed Shaw’s application for judicial review and he then lodged an appeal against the High Court judgment.

He is seeking an extension of time for the appeal, which lawyers for the state are opposing. A hearing has been set for February 4.