The Supreme Court has upheld the continued detention of Jonathon Caffrey in Portlaoise Prison after rejecting his argument that his imprisonment became unlawful when a 12-year tariff attached to his English life sentence expired.
Mr Caffrey was convicted in England of the murder of Andrew Cook and received the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment in December 1999. The trial judge recommended a minimum term of 12 years. His sentence was backdated to March 1998, meaning that period expired in March 2010.
Mr Caffrey had transferred to Ireland in 2005 under the Transfer of Sentenced Persons legislation so that he could serve the balance of his sentence closer to his family.
He later brought an Article 40 application challenging the legality of his detention. He argued that the 12-year period represented the punishment and deterrence part of the English sentence and that imprisonment beyond that point amounted to preventative detention, which he said was incompatible with Irish law.
The High Court rejected that argument. Mr Caffrey appealed.
Chief Justice Denham held that the essential point was the legal nature of the sentence. Mr Caffrey had received a mandatory sentence of imprisonment for life. That is also the mandatory sentence for murder in Ireland.
The Supreme Court held that the 12-year tariff did not alter the sentence’s legal nature. It was not a 12-year sentence followed by a separate form of detention. A life sentence continues throughout the sentenced person’s lifetime, even where release on licence later occurs.
Once Mr Caffrey transferred to Ireland, management of his sentence, including parole, was governed by Irish law rather than English procedures. The judgment noted that he had already been reviewed by the Irish Parole Board before the 12-year point.
The court therefore found that Mr Caffrey remained lawfully detained under the 2004 High Court transfer warrant. His appeal was dismissed and the High Court order affirmed.