Men get suspended sentences after killing

Two men who admitted killing walked free today after a High Court judge handed down suspended sentences for manslaughter.

Andrew Gordon Roche (36), with an address in Drumlease, Dromohair, Co Leitrim and Keith Cooper (25), with an address at Gortimar, Manorhamilton had successfully entered pleas of guilty to the manslaughter of Elliott Colin Double, otherwise known as Elliott Robertson, at a new age traveller campsite on the mountainside at Boihy, Co Leitrim on October 6 1998.

In August, another man who had admitted his part in the killing, Martin Francis Barber, (33), a father-of-one with an address at Boihy, Manorhamilton, was found dead in a caravan on the campsite.

In the Central Criminal Court today, Mr Justice Diarmuid O'Donovan said he was satisfied that Barber's suicide was "a direct consequence of what happened on 6 October 1998."

He said the case was particularly tragic because as a result of the events of that date, "two young men have lost their lives."

Handing down five year sentences to Andrew Roche and Keith Cooper, he said that "rightly or wrongly" he was suspending the sentences because no useful purpose would be served from imposing custodial sentences and it would only exacerbate an already bad situation.

The court heard that Roche, Cooper and Barber beat Elliot Robertson to death during a confrontation on the mountainside in Leitrim.

The confrontation followed a dispute between a group of new age travellers settled in the Boihy area and a gang of criminals who were using the campsite as their base.

Robertson was described as a violent and unpredictable man who was "very dangerous in drink".

His wife had taken out a protection order against him following persistent and severe beatings, and on the day of his death, the details of the order had become known on the campsite after his mail was deliberately opened by other residents.

Mr Justice O'Donovan said that taken in isolation the beating inflicted on Robertson would call for nothing other than a custodial sentence.

But he said the deceased man's character was "essential to the events". He was satisfied that up until the events of October 6, Roche, Cooper and Barber were "pillars of the community in which they chose to live", he said.

He said the two men before him were peaceful and constructive members of the community and neither were likely to reoffend.

"Rightly or wrongly, and I am sure that I will be criticised by many for it, I propose to impose a sentence of five years imprisonment for each of these men but I am suspending these sentences", he said.

After the hearing, Keith Cooper said he was "very happy" to be going home with his family tonight.