NORTHERN Ireland's Secretary of State has launched legal action over the prison release of a convicted robber who is on the run.
Brandon Lewis is seeking to judicially review a decision by Parole Commissioners which led to former IRA man Kieran Smyth (61) getting out of jail.
Counsel for Mr Lewis claimed at the High Court yesterday that mistakes were made by the panel who considered Smyth's case. He remains unlawfully at large since police revealed in September he had breached conditions of his release.
Smyth, with a previous address at Springfield Avenue, Belfast, is serving a 12-year sentence for a violent robbery in Ballynahinch in 2013 when masked intruders claiming to be loyalist paramilitaries tied up a businessman and his wife - then aged 82 and 76 - and threatened to cut their son's fingers off.
They stole £5,000 cash, a Rolex watch and Mercedes car, ripping out phone lines before escaping.
Members of the gang were arrested following a police chase in south Belfast.
Smyth, who took part in blanket protests staged by republican prisoners in the 1970s, was originally freed on licence after serving half the term imposed for the robbery.
He was returned to Maghaberry Prison in March 2020 for allegedly breaching the terms of his release.
However, in July this year he was released again following a decision taken by the Parole Commissioners for Northern Ireland. Police believe Smyth, who had aligned himself with dissident political grouping Saoradh, may be in the Republic.
In court yesterday it was confirmed his licence has been revoked again.
But Mr Justice Colton was told the challenge should still proceed.
Peter Coll QC, for the Secretary of State, said: "At some point one assumes Mr Smyth will be apprehended and returned to prison.
"Consideration will then have to be given by the Parole Commissioners once again to the question of whether he should be re-released on licence."
He argued Mr Lewis may want to participate and provide the closed information which was involved in the process being challenged.
"The mistakes we contend have been made by the panel, procedurally and substantively, require to be corrected in order to guide future practice,
not just in a general sense but specifically in the context of the use of the same information," Mr Coll submitted.
The court was told part of the challenge may have to be heard behind closed doors due to the nature of some of the evidence.
Full arguments are expected to be set out when the case resumes at a later date.
