Northern Ireland

Tributes paid to former Lord Justice of Appeal Sir Liam McCollum

Former High Court judge Sir Liam McCollum. Picture by Hugh Russell
Former High Court judge Sir Liam McCollum. Picture by Hugh Russell Former High Court judge Sir Liam McCollum. Picture by Hugh Russell

TRIBUTES have been paid to former Lord Justice of Appeal Sir Liam McCollum following his death at the age of 90.

The Co Derry man, who retired from the bench in the 2000s, died on Monday.

He began his career in law in 1955, and was appointed a High Court judge in 1987.

In 1997, Lord Justice McCollum sentenced Garfield Gilmour to life imprisonment for the murder of the young Quinn brothers in Ballymoney during the height of the Drumcree standoff.

Once tipped to become the first Catholic Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, in 2005 he made headlines when he called for a criminal probe into the cancelling of a contract by the PSNI to a Belfast company for plating for armoured vehicles.

Dame Siobhan Keegan, Northern Ireland's Lady Chief Justice, said she noted her colleague's death "with sadness" and paid tribute to his career.

"Sir Liam made an important contribution to the jurisprudence of this jurisdiction," she said.

"I would like to express my condolences, and that of the judiciary, to Sir Liam’s wife, his children and the wider family circle."