Prisoner in identity blunder back in jail
Mark Kenny, who was three months into a six-year sentence for robbery, was freed in June instead of another prisoner with the same name.
But on Saturday night gardaí swooped on a house in the Ballyfermot area of Dublin after receiving a tip-off 35-year-old Kenny was inside the home. Following what gardaí described as a small altercation, officers restrained the criminal and brought him back to Mountjoy to serve the rest of his sentence.
Yesterday the Irish Prison Service said an investigation had already begun into how Kenny was confused with another inmate and allowed to go free.
The spokesman confirmed that disciplinary charges had been brought against those officers involved in the prisoner’s release.
Kenny, originally from Ballyfermot, was not due for release until 2010, but was let out on June 20 instead of another Mark Kenny, who was serving a short term for traffic offences.
Prison officers realised the error about 20 minutes after freeing the wrong Kenny and then alerted gardaí, who immediately launched a manhunt for the convicted robber.
Kenny managed to leave the prison after obtaining the date of birth, address and other personal details of the other similar-named inmate. Both were housed on the same wing and when it was announced for Mark Kenny to go to prison officers for release, the robber stepped forward instead of the other Mark Kenny.
Prison officials afterwards said the two men looked alike, both signed their names in capitals and had similar appendix scars and tattoos on their bodies.
The Prison Service said Kenny would most likely meet the Governor of Mountjoy Prison today and could be punished by having his privileges restricted.
Kenny’s sentence is expected to be adjusted to take into account the time he spent at large. He was jailed in March after holding up shops and threatening staff with weapons in a crime spree.
Meanwhile, a Bolivian national is still at large and believed to have left the jurisdiction after he escaped during a temporary work release in May.
Juan Carlos Melgar Alba, 42, a chemist, was helping to build a community centre in Ballymun, Dublin, when he fled part-way through an eight-year sentence.
Alba was jailed at Kilkenny Circuit Court in 2004 for his part in manufacturing an estimated €255,000 worth of cocaine from a consignment smuggled into Ireland in impregnated jeans.
Alba had been brought into Ireland specifically as a chemist by international drugs traffickers in early 2004.
