The Supreme Court allowed an appeal by Vincent Sweeney, ruling that the custodial part of the sentence imposed on him in England was eight years, not 16. It said he was not entitled to be detained under the Irish High Court warrant after that eight-year period expired.
Sweeney had been convicted of serious drug offences in the UK on 7 December 2006 and sentenced to 16 years. Under the English law governing his sentence, he was required to serve half in custody and then be released on licence for the remainder. He consented to transfer to Ireland in December 2008 to serve the outstanding balance. The High Court issued a warrant on 22 October 2008 authorising his detention here under the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Act.
The dispute was whether Ireland had to treat the English sentence as 16 years’ imprisonment, subject to Irish remission rules, or as eight years’ deprivation of liberty followed by a period at liberty on licence. The Minister argued that the sentence remained 16 years and would expire in December 2022, with release in December 2016 if full Irish remission for good behaviour were granted. Sweeney argued that English law required his release after eight years in custody, making 29 March 2014 the expiry date for the custodial sentence.
Delivering judgment on 3 July 2014, Murray J. said the sentence’s legal nature and duration had to be determined under English law, while its enforcement in Ireland was governed by Irish law. The court relied on evidence that English authorities had a legal duty to release Sweeney at the halfway point; refusing to do so would be unlawful. The remaining period was served on licence in the community, rather than through remission of imprisonment.
The court concluded that the sentence, for the purposes of the transfer legislation and convention, involved eight years of actual deprivation of liberty. It held that treating it as 16 years’ custody subject to Irish remission would require Sweeney to serve a longer custodial sentence than the one imposed in England. The judgment noted that Irish law had no equivalent to the English licence arrangement, but said that could not justify extending his detention.
The court had already decided at the appeal hearing on 28 May 2014 that the appeal should be allowed, with reasons to follow. It then made the necessary declaration: Sweeney was not entitled to be detained under the High Court order from expiry of the first half of his sentence. The judgment did not determine the terms of any English licence or order a separate Irish release arrangement.