Frederick Lee’s escape sentence cut on appeal

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

The Court of Appeal reduced Frederick Lee’s sentence for escaping lawful custody from three years to 10 months. The proceedings were reported on 27 November 2017.

Lee pleaded guilty to escaping lawful custody contrary to common law. He escaped from Shelton Abbey, Co Wicklow, on 4 March 2016.

Judge Michael O’Shea imposed the three-year sentence concurrently on 15 December 2016. In February 1994, Lee had been convicted of murder committed during a burglary in England. Leeds Crown Court sentenced him to life imprisonment, and he was transferred to this jurisdiction in 1998.

Giving judgment for the three-judge appeal court, Mr Justice John Hedigan said Lee had been at large for three-and-a-half months. He was discovered living with his daughter in the UK at an address known to the authorities, apprehended on foot of a European Arrest Warrant and consented to his surrender.

Mr Justice Hedigan said Lee’s sister had been unwell in hospital and this was given as the reason for the escape. He said there appeared to have been some planning and Lee had not surrendered, but he could not be said to have been hiding and had engaged in no criminal or reprehensible behaviour.

The judge said the 10-month sentence could be considered served because Lee had spent one year and four months in Wheatfield Prison since its operative date. The process of seeking his release on licence would start again from the beginning.