Limerick mother's court action over proposed prison transfer of son's killer resolved

Action by Tracey Tully, mother of boxer Kevin Sheehy, aimed at preventing his killer Logan Jackson's transfer to UK prison resolved after minister for justice rescinded her sanctioning of Jackson's transfer

Mother of Irish Champion boxer Kevin Sheehy Tracey Tully will make fresh submissions to the minister regarding any renewed transfer application. File picture: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos

A High Court action brought by the mother of murdered boxer Kevin Sheehy aimed at preventing her son's killer from being transferred from an Irish prison to one in the UK has been resolved.

The action brought Tracey Tully, whose 20-year-old son was killed by Logan Jackson at Hyde Road Limerick, on July 1, 2019, was against the minister for justice.

Earlier this year, she was granted permission to legally challenge the minister's decision to sanction Mr Logan's proposed transfer to a prison in his native UK.

Ms Tully claimed the minister's decision amounted to a breach of her rights under the 2017 Victims of Crime Act.

The proceedings were resolved between the parties after the minister for justice decided to rescind her sanctioning of Jackson's transfer to a British prison.

Kevin Sheehy was killed by Logan Jackson at Hyde Road, Limerick, on July 1, 2019. Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

It is understood both Jackson and Ms Tully's representatives will make fresh submissions to the minister regarding any renewed transfer application.

When the case was briefly mentioned before Ms Justice Siobhan Phelan on Wednesday, the court was told the parties had agreed the case could now be struck out.

The court also made an order that legal costs incurred by Ms Tully, and Jackson, be paid by the State.

Outside court, a statement issued on behalf of Ms Tully, who was not in court for the case mention, said this success was now “just the bell between rounds” and the mother vowed to continue to fight on in what she described as “one last round for Kevin”. 

Her solicitor Sinead Nolan paid tribute to Ms Tully and said: “Tracey is a very brave woman, Kevin may have been the champion boxer, but his mother is the real fighter.”

In her proceedings, Ms Tully sought an order quashing the minister's decision to allow Logan Jackson, who is serving a life sentence for Mr Sheehy's murder, in Limerick Prison to be repatriated back to England.

She also sought declarations from the court including that the proposed transfer breaches her rights under the 2017 Victim of Crime Act and was made outside of the minister's powers under the 2019 Parole Act.

She further sought a declaration that the decision to transfer Jackson was unconstitutional as it removed the jurisdiction for sentencing Jackson from the Irish State and handed it over to another state.

Irish legislation she had claimed gives victims the right to be consulted on parole applications by their wrongdoers.

Ms Tully contended those rights would be extinguished if Jackson's transfer went ahead.

She claimed she would not have had any say, nor be able to make submissions to the British authorities if Jackson applies for parole.

The minister's decision, she contended, was unconstitutional and an "abdication of the Irish State's responsibility to determine when a person serving a life sentence may be paroled".

The minister had denied Ms Tully's rights had been breached and had claimed the transfer had been lawfully approved.

Lawyers representing both the minister and Jackson, who was a notice party to the proceedings, had opposed the application for permission to bring the case and had argued Ms Tully's action should have been dismissed.

In a ruling last July, Ms Justice Phelan said she was satisfied the legal threshold to allow Ms Tully to bring her claim had been reached.

Ms Tully, the judge added, had raised grounds concerning the rights of victims of crime that are arguable.

The full hearing of the case was due to go before the High Court.

However, the case was overtaken after the minister reversed her original decision, resulting in the legal action being struck out.

Mr Sheehy, an Irish champion boxer, died after being repeatedly struck by a vehicle driven by Jackson of Longford Road, Coventry, England.

Last year, Jackson was convicted of Mr Sheehy's murder by a jury at the Central Criminal Court and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Following his conviction Jackson, who is aged in his early 30s, successfully applied to the minister for justice for a transfer from Ireland so he can serve out his sentence in an English prison.

Apology: Kevin Sheehy Senior 

This article, when originally published on 16 November, included a photograph of Kevin Sheehy Senior which mistakenly referred to him as Logan Jackson, who had murdered Kevin Sheehy Junior. We acknowledge that this was a serious error, and we apologise to Mr Sheehy Senior and his family for any upset and distress caused by the publication of the incorrect picture caption.