Killer ‘must serve 15 years before temporary release’

A FORMER soldier, who killed a young woman over 13 years ago, has been told he will not be eligible for any form of temporary release until he has served at least 15 years.

Sean Courtney, described as a model prisoner by insiders, is in the pre-release training unit of Mountjoy Prison.

Now 37, Courtney was jailed in 1993 for the murder two years previously of insurance agent Patricia O’Toole, who was beaten to death. The lifer had applied for temporary release to attend a graphic design course but this has been denied on the orders of Justice Minister Michael McDowell.