Sword killer in court charged with being unlawfully at large

Stephen Henry in a police van arriving at Lisburn Courthouse yesterday A CONVICTED samurai sword killer who failed to return to jail has been formally remanded into custody accused of being unlawfully at large.

Stephen Henry was charged with two offences when he appeared at Lisburn Magistrates Court yesterday.

These allege that on October 30 he was unlawfully at large and possessed class C benzodiazepine. A detective constable told the court he believed he could connect Henry to the two offences.

Defence barrister Patrick Taylor asked for it to be recorded that Henry would be pleading guilty to the drug offence.

Henry (41) was jailed for murdering father-of-two John Cooke in Lisburn in 2004 after he

Murdered: John Cooke

stabbed his victim with a Samurai-style sword. He did not return to Magilligan Prison last Monday after being given a pass to visit his family.

On Friday, Henry was released by a court in Dublin after an arrest for a public order offence. He was let go because a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) had not been issued. A spokes- person for the PSNI said Henry was arrested in Waringstown, Co Down, late on Friday night.

After he did not return to prison last Monday, the PSNI appealed for information into his whereabouts and urged Henry to hand himself in to the authorities without further delay.

However, he crossed the border on Tuesday and was picked up by the gardai in Dublin on Friday. In court yesterday, District Judge Rosie Watters said the case come under the jurisdiction of Craigavon Magistrates Court and ordered Henry to appear there via videolink on November 24.

As Henry, who appeared wearing a black hoodie and grey T-shirt, was being led out of the dock, a female in the public gallery was physically shepherded from the court shouting at him “murdering scumbag”.