US ‘man of books’ helps in Cork Prison library while awaiting sentencing for passport offences

Randolph Kirk Parker is believed to have entered Ireland in 1988 and will be sentenced on April 22

The accused man — now known by his correct name thanks to enquiries through the FBI — Randolph Kirk Parker pleaded guilty to four counts of making a false statement to obtain a passport and one for having a false document. File picture: Larry Cummins

A 73-year-old American ‘man of books’ who is now helping at the library in Cork Prison will be sentenced on April 22 in a case where he applied for Irish passports in the name of two babies who died in the 1950s.

Judge Jonathan Dunphy asked the witness from the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation at one stage to repeat a part of his evidence at the sentencing hearing on Friday at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. Detective Garda Padraic Hanley replied: “Yes, it is quite complicated.”