2014-03-04 · Cork
UK seeks convicted murderer who came to Ireland
In a High Court hearing on 4 March 2014, Irish authorities sought the surrender of Michael Anthony Balmer, 62, a convicted murderer who had entered Ireland two years earlier after conditional release from a UK prison. Balmer, last known to reside in Cornwall, England, was arrested by Gardaí in Ballydehob, Co. Cork in 2012 following his release from prison a year earlier. The Minister for Justice's counsel, Diarmaid McGuinness SC, informed the court that UK authorities were requesting Balmer's surrender for a single murder offence under common law. Balmer had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 1984 for the killing of a woman in Devon, England, on 28 July 1983. He was released on licence in March 2011, a licence that was revoked in March 2012. Counsel for Balmer, Patrick McGrath SC, argued that Balmer had served the punitive part of his sentence and that any surrender for public protection would amount to preventative detention, which Irish courts prohibit.