FRESH pictures have emerged of a former IRA prisoner who is to fight extradition to the Republic where he faces charges connected to a notorious gangland murder.
Kevin Murray (46) was detained at his home in Townsend Street, Strabane on Monday evening under a European Arrest Warrant.
He is wanted in connection to the shooting of David Byrne at a boxing weigh-in at Dublin's Regency Hotel in February of this year.
Despite having been linked to the gangland style killing, Mr Murray has remained living openly in Strabane since.
Mr Byrne, a 34-year-old father of two, was shot dead when masked men dressed as Garda officers opened fire with automatic guns as part of an ongoing feud between the Hutch and Kinahan crime families.
Pictures taken in April last year show Murray before and after he had undergone a 12-week fitness programme at a Strabane gym during which he lost 30 pounds.
Looking fit and healthy, Murray is pictured posing for the camera showing off the results of his fitness makeover.
However, when he appeared at Belfast Recorder's Court on Tuesday in front of Judge Smyth yesterday his appearance had changed dramaticall .
Leaning heavily on a walking frame, he made his way into the dock with help from a prison guard.
The court was told he is being sought in connection with alleged offences of murder, possession of a firearm with intent, and possession of a firearm in suspicious circumstances.
His barrister, Desmond Fahy, told the court his client does not consent to extradition and that his health has deteriorated since last December, leaving him unable to walk without assistance and that he is being tested for multiple sclerosis.
In 1990 Murray was sentenced to 18 years in prison for attempted murder and possession of firearms and served eight years in the H Blocks of the Maze prison before being released in 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
Since then he has lived in Strabane and was a close friend of 'new IRA' murder victim Mickey Barr who was shot dead in Dublin in April as part the ongoing gangland feud.
Sources have told the Irish News that Murray has already been warned he will not be welcome on the republican wing at Portlaoise prison should be successfully extradited.
