We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
FUGITIVE MURDERER STEPHEN Henry appeared in court in Dublin tonight, where he was released with a fine following a drunk and disorderly arrest.
Stephen Henry, 41, from Belfast, who went on the run after failing to return to Magilligan Prison in Northern Ireland earlier this week, was arrested drunk in Dublin this morning after being thrown out of a city-centre hostel and getting mugged.
He was brought before Dublin District Court this evening and let go after being fined €75 for a public order offence that does not carry a jail sentence.
A European Arrest Warrant had not been issued yet and could take a week, the court was told.
Henry did not return to prison on Monday after he was granted a day-release pass to visit his family. The PSNI launched a manhunt and appealed for information into his whereabouts.
Jailed
Henry was jailed for murdering father-of-two John Cooke in Lisburn. After failing to return to prison on Monday the PSNI issued a statement saying he may be in either the Craigavon or Belfast area.
However, he crossed the border on Tuesday and was picked up by gardaí in Dublin today.
He was arrested at Merrion Road, Dublin 4 at 8.50am on a charge under the Public Order Act for being intoxicated to an extent he might endanger himself or any other person in his vicinity. The offence can result in a fine of about €130 but no jail sentence.
Henry, who has tattoos on both upper arms and scars on his forehead and left ear, was brought before Judge Conal Gibbons at a late sitting of Dublin District Court.
Dressed in a black tracksuit, green and white shirt, and brown shoes, Henry, with two cuts on his forehead, remained silent during his hearing.
No fixed abode
Garda David Carty told the court that Henry, who is currently of no fixed abode, had been brought to Irishtown Garda Station and made “no reply when charged”.
He objected to bail, however the judge pointed out that the charge did not carry a penal sanction, just a fine, and the High Court would not be pleased if he refused.
There was no charge before the court for being unlawfully at large and he also said that being homeless was not a reason for refusal of bail.
Defence solicitor Tracy Horan said she had voiced the same concerns and she agreed with the judge. She also said she thought it would be at least a week for a European Arrest Warrant to be issued.
Garda Carty said contact would be made with Interpol.
Judge Gibbons held that he had to grant bail but because Henry had no ties to the jurisdiction he was going to require him to lodge €50 cash.
However, Horan said that her client had been robbed overnight; his bag and phone were taken. He had a brother in Dublin but did not have his number. She argued that asking for a cash lodgement was tantamount to refusing bail.
Judge Gibbons said the lodgement would be required because Henry had no ties to the State. This would have resulted in him being remanded in custody until the bail money was lodged.
The defence solicitor took instructions from Henry at the side of the court and then told the judge her client was pleading guilty.
Garda Carty said when he observed Henry walking on Merrion Road, he had no shoes on and was “completely unaware where he was”. He was arrested for his own safety.
The court was told he was serving a sentence for murder in the North but did not return after being given day-release. He has no previous convictions in the Republic.
Pleading for leniency, Horan said Henry had been robbed and his phone was taken on Thursday night. He was intoxicated at the time and it was “a little bit a blur”, she said.
Judge Gibbons gave him a €75 fine which must be paid within one month.
Henry, from Mountpottinger Road, Belfast, was jailed for life at Craigavon Crown Court in 2006 after pleading guilty to murdering an acquaintance with a Samurai-style sword.
When contacted by TheJournal.ie for comment, the gardaí said they do not comment on named individuals.
A spokesperson for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said:
Stephen Henry remains unlawfully at large from HMP Magilligan. PSNI is aware he is now outside of our jurisdiction and officers are actively working to have him returned.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
A great little Country we have
How did he get anywhere with no income and how is he to pay the fine other than be jailed here for a few hours like the thousands of others jailed every year for not being able to afford regressive fines. Fines should be a proportion of your income like Scandinavia so big wigs won’t risk drink driving or speeding never mind white collar crimes.
@John Scott: You are right, we have laws that were adhered to where individuals, no matter how repugnant, cannot just be interned by those in power.
@Jay Lane: not sure you didn’t miss the point of the article Jay. Him paying or not paying a €75 fine is really irrelevant. He played the system. By pleasing guilty no bail required so he walks into the sunset while still being unlawfully at large from prison 100 miles away where he should be serving life for murder. It highlights inefficiencies in the system with regard to a very dangerous man.
@Mick Murphy: *pleading
@Mick Murphy: Also shows how ineffective the Gardai are, as if their scandals in recent years didn’t prove their ineffectiveness enough already.
@Jay Lane: chip on your shoulder with the guards? You’re complaining that the law was followed…..?!
@Piarais Mac Maoláin: You think they would do some background checks. You’d think they would work with PSNI on at least keeping pictures handy of everyone who is at large on this island as they are likely to cross the border as this isn’t done already. The Gardai, after hearing his presumbly noerthern accent, should have asked him of where his address in the North is and surely he would have been a bit stumbly on that and their suspicions should be alerted & they should have looked deeper as we are supposed to corporate with the north on these matters surely for the public’s sake.
@Mick Murphy: If he was presently such a dangerous man he wouldn’t have been trusted to visit his family,on his own in the first place.
@Jay Lane: I don’t think you have even the slightest clue as to what happened.
@Jay Lane: nope….yet again you have it wrong. The Gardai were perfectly efficient here. They found the man, arrested him and placed him before the courts. That’s their job and they did it. Because the law didn’t allow for the man to be placed in prison or extradited is not their fault. Really you should find out how the system operates, or fails to, before commenting. All for the sake of having a bash at the Gardai. While you may think you are insulting them and are really hurting them with your razor sharp wit you really aren’t.
@Jay Lane: As for him being allowed out to visit his family that is up to the governor of the prison in Northern Ireland and has nothing to do with the guards. In relation to your comment prior to that the Gardai and PSNI do work closely together and when the Gardai arrested him they of course would have done a check on him and immediately known he was at large from the prison. The law does not allow them to do any more than they did. I don’t know how else to tell you. It all may look like keystone cops and understandably so I suppose in that common sense tells you he should have been dropped straight back in prison. It is not allowed by law as no European arrest warrant has been issued yet. Again not the fault of the Gardai.
@Jay Lane: there’s no offence on our books for absconding from a foreign prison. Had the PSNI applied for a European arrest warrant, he could have been held; since they didn’t, that wasn’t a runner. The garda objected to bail, but since it was a minor offence the judge wouldn’t entertain that. Having no fixed abode is no longer a bar to getting bail either.
Jut so I’m clear… A convicted murderer on the run was identified and brought before a Dublin Judge today whilst drunk, fined and then released again back into society? Did I read that correctly?
@Kenny Wolf: He is not wanted in the Republic , both in legalise and societal terms .
I thought we had all of these little loopholes tidied up. We share one little island, and we can’t put this criminal in a van for 90 mins to hand him over to the police force that’s been looking for him for the bones of a week.
@Paddy Hayden: It would have taken very little imagination for the police and judge to come up with a charge that resulted in this man being held in custody until an international arrest warrent was available. Here’s a horrible thought: maybe the authorities want this man to infict harm on others to highlight the incompetence of the PSNI.
Consider this question: Would a judge have freed this man to roam the streets of Dublin tonight if he was a member of I.S. convicted of murder and on the run from a jail in Britain?
Whether the decision is right or wrong, we can only hope he doesn’t turn up angry and drunk on some poor fool’s door tonight looking for somewhere to spend the night.
This Country is fckd.
Innocent people are crusified by crime and taxes while proven criminals walk the streets.
@Stephen Maher: Not just ”proven” but on the run .
@Paddy Hayden: On the run from another jurisdiction, with no European arrest warrant in place. The Irish courts followed the letter of the law in this case. The cock-ups came in the North. Why was this man released to visit family if he was as dangerous as they say. He was dangerous last Sunday, yet Monday morning was released because, presumably, he wasn’t considered a danger to the public. Yet Monday evening he was considered dangerous again. And the PSNI thought he might be in Craigavon which is about 40kms from the border, yet didn’t think to apply for a European arrest warrant in case he went into the Republic ?
@Tommy Roche:
I fully understand the court followed the letter of the law . But I would be surprised if there is no obscure law they could have held him on .
@Tommy Roche: When prisoners in magaberry come near the end of a long sentence they get transfered to magilligan and they begin to get day release eventually so they can ease back into the public. Maybe this was his first day on release.
The judge and solicitor were so busy dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s they failed to see what was standing in front of them. A convicted murderer with a drink problem is allowed back out on the street . Meanwhile our legal eagles are happy that they have done their job and followed all the rules. Just like the guards at Auschwitz. Common sense has no place in a court of law. Gobsh**es in a fairytale world.
@Peter De Courcy: So we scrap our laws and let justice be administered on the basis of the judges “common sense” thinking ? At least once a week there’s uproar on this website regarding what particular judges deem to be appropriate sentences, and you want these people to make up the law as they go along ? The laws that allowed this guy to go free also exist in the North. Remember the pictures of Sean Quinn’s nephew basically giving the finger to this state from the middle of a field that straddled the border ?
Black tracksuit bottoms, green and white shirt AND brown shoes, no wonder he was mugged!
@Fergal O’Hagan: You the fashion police now?
@Jay Lane: no I’m retired but i like to keep up with the new trends!
The sad thing is , some social worker is probably watching out for him as we speak . He’ll get a bed in a hostel so he doesn’t freeze tonight , but no one will know who he is or what he has done .
has eveyone got there popcorn ready ,just under 2 hours to go
@Paddy Hayden: or moses
@Salvatore Mazzani: no the great british bakeoff
What income would he have?
Not surprised by many commentators on here. Most giving out that this guy was released. Many are the same who give out that the judiciary and guards are corrupt. In this instance the law was followed as is correct, what many are suggesting is he should have been locked up, which would be illegal and corrupt…..! Irony!
Only in Ireland
The prison service,the police like so many other civil servants in the Nth have all but given up and thrown in the towel due to lack of funding,interest from Whitehall.
@joe oneill: Whitehall may not be interested but it is still stumping up the cash – even without a government or budget agreed. In fact, maybe that’s why apathy has crept in in the first place.
@Alan M: stumping up enough cash to keep things barely ticking over.The Nth’s residents are surviving on scraps from their benefactors.
Sure he’s harmless
Irish judiciary being snooty about the other jurisdiction
Cue,,,,the Benny hill chasing theme
Diddle dodo diddle
Diddle dodo diddle, ,,,,,
‘He objected to bail, however the judge pointed out that the charge did not carry a penal sanction, just a fine, and the High Court would not be pleased if he refused.’
Does anybody ever proof read this stuff?
Now that is a dreadful state of affairs. What kind of law have we ?, there should be some way of holding him, he is a convicted criminal.
We need a united Ireland.quick…….start canvassing tomorrow ok.
This is an absolute joke
A convicted murderer walks away just beacuse there was not an arrest warrant issued
Surely the Murdered persons family deserve better
We are an absolute joke after this ‘ you couldn’t make it up
We will never learn. This is an absolute career criminal who will offend again and again. When he offends against a politician or judge then we’ll see REAL justice.
If I was a guard I would spend some hard earn public tax money driving him to the border and kicking him across the line to the PSNI. He’ll be on the run here until an arrest warrant is issued and then he’ll waste a load of hard earned public tax money being pursued for 3 months
Holy Moly, Would he not be an illegal alien ? Technically NI is not in Europe anymore with the whole Brexit affair !!
If i was the garda that arrested him i would have f**cked him into the back of a black mariah and lashed up the road to Newry, who would know, id say if you really looked into it i’d say it happens all of the time Ireland has no borders and anyone with a bit of common sense could get into this country :(:(, he’s probably on a flight out of hear to Amsterdam,(Ryanair speacial )
have your say