The High Court refused Philip Leonard’s application for judicial review over the date he was due to be released from Wheatfield Prison, finding no basis to conclude that the Governor’s calculation was incorrect.
Leonard sought an order of certiorari, saying his release date was disputed and that he should be released in August 2009 rather than held until January 2010. The judgment was delivered by Mr Justice Charleton on 24 July 2009.
The judge examined two sentences imposed in 2007. In January, Leonard pleaded guilty to attempting to rob Emma Monaghan in Drogheda in August 2005. He received a four-year sentence backdated to 19 August 2006, with the final 18 months suspended subject to a bond. The judgment said this meant he was scheduled to serve 30 months from that date. A second attempted robbery charge relating to Yvonne Madden was not proceeded with.
In February, Leonard pleaded guilty to burglary at Trim Circuit Court and received a four-year custodial sentence to run concurrently with the sentence already being served. That sentence was not backdated; its commencement date was 6 February 2007. The judge said he was not entitled to review the length of that punishment.
The Governor’s office wrote to Leonard’s solicitor in June 2009, explaining that a review of the warrants and recalculation showed a sentence expiry date of 5 February 2011 and a remission release date of 16 January 2010. The letter said that date reflected the loss of 31 days’ remission.
Justice Charleton said the earlier sentence’s backdated start may have caused confusion, but the later sentence was the operative warrant holding Leonard in custody. Applying the ordinary rule that a sentence begins when imposed unless backdated, he found nothing to suggest the Governor’s January 2010 release calculation was incorrect. The court refused the judicial review application; it did not order Leonard’s release.