Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ADAMS GETS A JAIL BREAK
Judges quash his convictions for Maze escape bids
GERRY Adams’ convictions for trying to escape from jail in the 1970s have been overturned by the UK’S highest court after it ruled his detention was unlawful.
The former Sinn Fein leader took legal action claiming the two 1975 findings of guilt were unsafe because his incarceration was not “personally considered” by a senior minister.
Mr Adams, 71, attempted to flee the Maze Prison in Co Antrim on Christmas Eve 1973 and again the following July. He was later sentenced to a total of four-and-a-half years.
He said: “Today is about the judgment from the heart of Britain’s own legal system, from their Supreme Court, saying they acted unlawfully.”
Internment without trial was introduced as Northern Ireland descended into violence in the early 1970s.
Mr Adams said it is believed nearly 2,000 men and women were imprisoned during its four-and-ahalf years of operation.
At a hearing in November, Mr Adams’ lawyers argued that because the interim custody order (ICO) used to initially detain him in July 1973 was not authorised by the thensecretary of state Willie Whitelaw, his detention was unlawful and his convictions should be overturned.
Announcing the Supreme Court’s written judgment at a remote sitting yesterday, Lord Kerr – the ex-lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland – said the court had unanimously allowed the former TD’S appeal.
He added: “The making of the ICO in respect of the appellant was invalid since the secretary of state had not himself considered it.
“In consequence, Mr Adams’ detention was unlawful, hence his convictions of attempting to escape from lawful custody were, likewise, unlawful.”