Killer avoids jail term over summons blunder

Double killer John Gallagher has avoided prosecution and a possible jail term for absconding from custody after a judge found that a summons was incorrectly served.

Mr Gallagher, aged 46, who shot dead his ex-girlfriend, Anne Gillespie, aged 18, and her mother, Annie, aged 51, in the grounds of Sligo Hospital in 1988, was released from the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum in Dublin on Jun 29, six weeks after giving himself up.

He was found guilty but insane at his trial in 1989 and had absconded while on day-release in 2000 after spending 12 years at the facility.