Notorious murderer Nash seeks transfer to Dublin jail as he claims he fears for his safety
MARK Nash, one of Ireland’s most notorious killers, is seeking a transfer back to a Dublin jail because he fears for his safety, a court has heard.
The convicted murderer yesterday launched a High Court action against prison bosses and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, claiming he had been unfairly moved to a jail outside the capital where he feels more ‘vulnerable’.
Nash, 42, who has been in jail since 1998 for a series of brutal murders, is complaining about being forced to move from Dublin’s Arbour Hill jail to the Midlands Prison.
He i s serving a double life sentence for the killings of Sylvia Sheils, 59, and Mary Callinan, 61, in March 1997.
In April, a jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty on both charges and Nash was sentenced to two life terms of imprisonment.
Ms Sheils and Ms Callinan were patients l i vi ng in s heltered accommodation near St Brendan’s psychiatric hospital in Grange- gorman, north Dublin.
Nash began his sentences for those killings in Mountjoy Prison before moving to Arbour Hill. Then, at the start of May, he was moved to the Midlands Prison.
Nash is also serving life for the murders of Catherine Doyle, 28, and Carl Doyle, 29, at Ballintubber, Castlerea, Co. Roscommon, on August 16, 1997.
He has been in prison for the past 18 years and had been an inmate of Arbour Hill before he went on trial for the murder of Ms Sheils and Ms Callinan this year.
In his High Court action, his l awyers contend that Frances Fitzgerald’s refusal to refuse to move him back to Dublin was ‘irrational and unreasonable’.
They claim his constitutional rights have been breached by forcing him to remain in the Midlands.
Yesterday, the High Court heard evidence that Nash is at high risk of committing suicide and wants to be returned to Arbour Hill, where he felt more protected, as soon as possible.
Siobhán Phelan BL, for Nash, told the court her client had suffered a ‘disproportionate interference with his fundamental rights’.
Nash is seeking ‘a right to be detained in conditions that give due respect to his right to bodily integrity’, Ms Phelan said.
She added: ‘These are rights well recognised in a series of [previous] cases… He wants to return to Arbour Hill.’
But Paul Carroll BL, for the State, told Judge Max Barrett that Nash had no human right to decide which jail he serves his life sentence in. Mr Carroll questioned what right Nash had ‘to remain in a prison to be visited by his girlfriend or whatever’.
In April, the Irish Mail on Sunday reported that Nash had been receiving regular prison visits from a lollipop lady, Dublin mother-ofthree Martina Courtney, 53.
However, there have since been reports that the pair are no longer in contact with each other.
He added: ‘There is no right to serve your sentence in a particular prison. There is no human right. The minister is given a discretion.’
The court heard that Nash is being held in his own single cell on the E-wing of the Midlands Prison, which holds 44 prisoners.
Mr Carroll said: ‘This is a secure wing separate from other prisoners within the Midlands Prison. Some of them are of a similar profile to Mr Nash.’
The court heard how, when asked why he needed protection when he first arrived at the Midlands Prison, Nash said: ‘I understand my life is in danger in the Midlands due to threats against me.’
When asked from whom he required protection, the killer replied: ‘I cannot say’, the court heard.
Judge Barrett said he will give his decision on Friday in view of the urgency of the case due to Nash’s ‘physical and mental condition’.
Nash was not brought to court for yesterday’s hearing.
‘I understand my life is in danger’