State wins appeal over Mark Finnegan’s detention after prison escape

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

Mark Finnegan faced arrest and a return to prison after the State successfully appealed a High Court ruling that his arrest and detention following his escape were unlawful. The appeal was allowed on 27 July 2017. The proceedings were reported on 28 July 2017.

Finnegan was convicted in November 2008 of allowing himself to be carried in a mechanically propelled vehicle without the owner’s consent. He was sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment on 27 May 2009. After two months in Wheatfield prison, he was transferred to Shelton Abbey open prison in Wicklow.

He escaped from Shelton Abbey on 31 October 2009 and was arrested in November 2014. While at large, he collected social welfare in Tallaght and had a child in 2013. A Garda inspector admitted there was no good explanation for what had happened and that Finnegan had taken no steps to conceal his whereabouts. Mr Justice John Hedigan acknowledged that Finnegan had not offended since his escape.

The High Court had held that his arrest and detention breached constitutional justice and were not according to law. Ms Justice Úna Ní Raifeartaigh found that the delay was on the unacceptable side of a notional dividing line. On appeal, Mr Justice Hedigan found that the arrest and imprisonment were lawful, and the High Court judgment was set aside. Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice John Edwards agreed.

Mr Justice Hedigan said the failure to enter details of the escape on the Garda Pulse system was due to human error and meant Finnegan was not pursued. He described Finnegan’s failure to report to the authorities as a protracted evasion of justice. State lawyers undertook not to arrest him if his solicitor, Michael Staines, lodged a Supreme Court appeal.