MacArthur ‘will have to be set free’
Minister of State for Justice Willie O’Dea has, for the second time, over-ruled recommendations from the Parole Board to release MacArthur, one of the State’s longest-serving prisoners.
MacArthur has spent the last 22 years in jail for the brutal murder of nurse Bridie Gargan in 1982. MacArthur beat Ms Gargan to death as she lay sunbathing in Dublin’s Phoenix Park. MacArthur was also suspected of murdering Offaly farmer Donal Dunne. For reasons that were never explained, he was not prosecuted for that murder.
For the second year running, the Parole Board recommended MacArthur be placed on a temporary release programme to prepare him for full release under the supervision of the probation service.
MacArthur’s behaviour in prison has impressed officials, with some regarding him as a “model prisoner”. But Mr O’Dea ruled MacArthur should stay confined to Shelton Abbey, an open prison in Co Wicklow. But the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) criticised the decision.
“The Parole Board has recommended his release and we would say that should happen,” said ICCL’s Malachy Mulligan.
“If you have served your time and you are no longer a threat to society, you should be set free. Just because it’s a high-profile case doesn’t mean he should stay locked up. He is going to have to be let out at some point.”
However, observers believe it is becoming increasingly unlikely this Government will release MacArthur. His case is seen in political circles as just too sensitive. Justice Minister Michael McDowell ruled himself out of adjudicating on the matter as he was on MacArthur’s defence team at the 1983 trial.
MacArthur was sensationally arrested at the flat of the then Attorney General Patrick Connolly in August 1982.
