Garda killer back in Republic
Martin McDermott, aged 26, had fled across the border with more than six years left on his sentence for the manslaughter of Garda Gary McLoughlin. He was later arrested in Derry and jailed for four months for assaulting PSNI officers, resisting arrest, and disorderly behaviour.
Police in Belfast said he had been handed over to the authorities in the Republic to serve out the rest of his term for killing Garda McLoughlin.
The officer died when his squad car was struck at speed by a stolen car driven by McDermott at Burt, Co Donegal, in Dec 2009.
McDermott was jailed for eight years — one of them suspended — for the manslaughter.
McDermott, from Raphoe, Co Donegal, escaped from Loughan House prison in Blacklion, Co Cavan, on Mar 15. He had only been transferred to the limited security prison 12 days earlier.
A Irish Prison Service report later revealed that in 2007 he had absconded from the same unit after he was sent there to serve time for a previous offence.
McDermott, who has 91 previous convictions, was detained in the Galliagh area of Derry after he ran into oncoming traffic while trying to escape from the PSNI before climbing a wall and running off.
He later injured police and damaged handcuffs.
He appealed against the severity of the sentence but he did not contest the extradition across the border.
A European arrest warrant had been issued to allow for this transfer, although this was not able to be effected until he completed his sentence in the North.
Late last month a plaque erected in the memory of Garda McLoughlin was defaced and dumped on a car belonging to the brother of the late officer’s girlfriend.
