Declan Duffy to seek bail in Northern Irish extradition proceedings

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Declan Duffy was remanded in custody after Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly listed a High Court bail application in Northern Irish extradition proceedings for 19 June 2017. On 29 May 2017, his barrister, Dean Kelly BL, told the judge that Duffy would be seeking bail.

Duffy (43), of Hannover Street West in Dublin, separately faced three counts of false imprisonment at The Towers, Garters Lane in Saggart, on 9 June 2015, and a violent disorder charge arising from the same occasion. His trial at the non-jury, three-judge Special Criminal Court was due to take place in October.

The High Court had heard that Duffy was serving a life sentence for the murder of British army sergeant Michael Newman in Derby City in 1992 when a Northern Irish parole board released him on licence in March 2013.

Gardaí arrested Duffy on 5 December 2015 on suspicion of committing the offences subsequently charged in the Special Criminal Court. On 6 June 2016, the Under Secretary of State for Northern Ireland revoked his licence and recalled him to prison. The report said a European Arrest Warrant issued by Northern Irish authorities had been endorsed by the High Court the previous year.

Representing Duffy in January, Seamus Clarke BL told the High Court that the same alleged subject matter underlay both proceedings. The court heard that the allegations in the Republic had triggered the extradition request.

Clarke sought to postpone extradition proceedings until the criminal trial concluded, describing the warrant as “highly premature” and issued “erroneously”. He submitted that requiring Duffy to respond undermined his presumption of innocence and affected his right to a fair trial. Clarke said Duffy denied the charges “outright”.