Sectarian killer Kerr in court charged with escaping custody
CONVICTED killer Christopher Kerr appeared in court yesterday accused of escaping lawful custody.
The 32-year-old, who is serving a life sentence with a minimum tariff of nine years for the sectarian attack on 15-year-old Catholic schoolboy Michael McIlveen in 2006, spoke only to confirm that he understood the four charges against him.
In addition to the charge of escaping lawful custody on June 21 this year, Kerr was also accused of three drugs offences, namely that he had cocaine, diazepam and Xanax on the same date and cannabis resin on June 22.
His address was given as Carnduff Drive in Ballymena but he was produced to court from Maghaberry Prison.
Giving evidence to Antrim Magistrates Court, a police officer said she believed she could connect Kerr to each of the offences, while defence lawyer Stephen Law said his client was “keen to have the matter expedited” as he was “beyond tariff ”.
Remanding Kerr into custody, Deputy District Judge Peter Magill ordered him to appear again via videolink on July 31.
The offences arise after Kerr allegedly ran away from prison officers in Belfast’s Victoria Square shopping centre while out on day release. He was, however, arrested at Antrim Area Hospital the following day.
Kerr is serving a life term for the attack which claimed the life of Michael McIlveen in Ballymena in May 2006.
The teenager — known to friends and family as ‘Mickey Bo’ — was kicked and beaten with a baseball bat in an alleyway after being chased by a gang in his hometown. He died later from brain injuries.
Mervyn Moon, who plead guilty to murder and is from Douglas Terrace in Ballymena, was jailed for a minimum of 10 years after the prosecution outlined how the schoolboy died “solely as a consequence of the blows issued by Mervyn Moon with the baseball bat”.
It was Kerr, the jury heard, who handed Moon the bat. Kerr was not convicted until 2009 following a lengthy trial and judge Mr Justice Treacy jailed him for a minimum of 13 years.
The Court of Appeal quashed Kerr’s conviction, however, and ordered a retrial, which sat for three days in April 2013 before he admitted his guilt.
The trial judge Mr Justice Weatherup imposed a life sentence and jailed Kerr for a minimum of nine years.
Also convicted of the murder were Aaron Wallace and Jeff Lewis, who were 20 and 19 years old respectively at the time they were sentenced in May 2009, while Christopher McLeister, then 18, of Ballymena, was given a three-year sentence suspended for two years for the teenager’s manslaughter.
Two other Ballymena men were also sentenced for offences of affray and criminal damage arising from the killing.