Mother of murdered boxer calls on Helen McEntee to block killer’s transfer to English prison

The action by Tracey Tully, whose 20-year-old son was killed by Logan Jackson at Hyde Road, Limerick on July 1, 2019, was briefly mentioned before Ms Justice Siobhán Phelan today with the court told the parties had agreed that the case can now be struck out.

The court also made an order that legal costs incurred by Ms Tully and Jackson be paid by the State. The proceedings were resolved between the parties arising out of the minister’s decision to rescind her sanctioning of Jackson's transfer to a British prison.

It is understood that both Jackson and Ms Tully's representatives will make fresh submissions to the Minister regarding any renewed transfer application.

The decision on whether or not to return Mr Jackson to the UK now lies in the hands of the Justice Minister, Ms Tully said in a statement today.

The Transfer of Sentenced Persons Act 1995 leaves the power to decide whether to repatriate or not at the minister’s discretion, the statement added.

A spokesperson for Ms McEntee said in response: "The minister is considering the application made by Mr Logan Jackson to transfer to the UK and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."

Mr Sheehy, an Irish champion boxer, died after being repeatedly struck by a vehicle driven by Jackson of Longford Road, Coventry, England.

Last year Jackson was convicted of Mr Sheehy's murder by a jury at the Central Criminal Court and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Following his conviction Jackson, who is aged in his early 30s, successfully applied to the Justice Minister for a transfer from Ireland so he can serve out his sentence in an English prison.

Earlier this year, the deceased’s mother, Ms Tully, was granted permission to bring judicial review proceedings against the minister's decision to sanction Mr Logan's proposed transfer.

Ms Tully, represented by Ciarán O'Loughlin SC with Arthur Griffin BL, instructed by Sinéad Nolan of Mark Murphy solicitors, claimed the minister's decision amounted to a breach of the client's rights under the 2017 Victims of Crime Act.

She had sought an order quashing the minister's decision to allow Jackson, who is serving life in Limerick Prison, to be repatriated back to England.

She also sought declarations including that the proposed transfer was made outside of the minister's powers under the 2019 Parole Act.

She further sought a declaration that the decision to transfer Jackson was unconstitutional as it removed the jurisdiction for sentencing Jackson from the Irish State and handed it over to another state.

She had claimed that Irish legislation gives victims the right to be consulted on parole applications by their wrongdoers.

Ms Tully claimed those rights would be extinguished if Jackson's transfer went ahead.

The minister had denied Ms Tully's rights had been breached and had claimed the transfer had been lawfully approved.

Lawyers representing both Ms McEntee and Jackson, who was a notice party to the proceedings, had opposed the application for permission to bring the case and had argued that Ms Tully's action should have been dismissed.

In a statement issued by Ms Tully outside of court she said that the success in the High Court in forcing the Justice Minister to rescind her original decision is just the “bell between rounds” and she vowed to fight on in what she has described as “one last round for Kevin”.

Ms Tully thanked her solicitor, Ms Sinéad Nolan of Mark Murphy & Co, Limerick. “Sinéad and everyone at Mark Murphy & Co really fought hard for me and for Kevin’s daughter Keveah”.

For her part, Ms Nolan paid tribute to Ms Tully: “Tracey is a very brave woman, Kevin may have been the champion boxer, but his mother is the real fighter”. Ms Nolan thanked her Counsel, Arthur Griffin BL and Ciarán O’Loughlin SC.