THE mother of murdered Limerick champion boxer Kevin Sheehy has described her son’s convicted killer as a monster and says his request to serve out his life sentence in an English jail should be rejected.
Tracey Tully and her solicitor Sinead Nolan said they are hopeful that Justice Minister Helen McEntee will reverse her decision to allow Logan Jackson transfer from Limerick Prison to a jail near his family in England.
Ms Tully said it was an insult to her and her 20-year old son’s memory that she was not initially informed of Jackson’s transfer request, nor was she made aware that Minister McEntee had granted the transfer – which has not yet been processed.
Ms Tully made a submission to the courts outlining why she believes Jackson, from Longford Road, Coventry, should serve out all or the majority of his sentence in Ireland, and she was granted a judicial review of the minister’s decision.
It has emerged that Minister McEntee recently invited Ms Tully into a consultation process with a view to reviewing her decision, which an informed source described as a “welcome u-turn” by the minister.
Last December, 31-year-old Jackson was convicted on a unanimous jury decision of murdering Mr Sheehy – a five times Irish national champion who was on course to represent Ireland at the 2024 Olympic Games – by deliberately and repeatedly running him over in a jeep as he walked along Hyde Road, Limerick City, on July 1, 2019.
The jury, at the Central Criminal Court, also unanimously rejected Jackson’s defence of provocation, which the prosecution described as a “tapestry of self-serving lies”.
Speaking to the Limerick Post, this Wednesday, Ms Tully said she felt powerless when she eventually found out Jackson’s request was already decided without anyone consulting her or her family
“Everyone told me it was out of their hands, and it felt like the deal was done without any consideration for us, and this was eight weeks after Jackson’s sentence,” Ms Tully explained.
“This wasn’t just a hit and run, my son was massacred, it was a brutal murder, and to see Jackson getting his own way…
“I think if you do the crime in the country you should do your time in this country.”
“Then there is the cost of the legal proceedings. The minister kept throwing bills at me. If I was to go to court, she wanted me to pay her legal fees and to pay Logan Jackson’s legal fees – the man who murdered my son.
“I think that was just a way of telling me to go away and shut up, and I have kept going forward. This is an insult to my son’s life.”
Kevin Sheehy, who had no links to criminality, was regraded as a hero and a positive role model for children in the local working class communities of Kennedy Park and John Carew Park, where had lived.
“I can say this with confidence – if that monster was never in this country, my son would be training for the Olympics. He was primed and ready and he would have gone and fought in the Olympics for his country. This is the way the Minister for Justice has treated his memory. It is a big insult,” said Ms Tully.
“I am the people. Kevin is the people, and the Minister is working for the people of this country, so I think this was very badly handled.”
“I hope this will help other people in other cases. I hope and pray this will never happen to another family and another grieving mother. I hope that decisions like that won’t be made again because it has been horrible.”
Ms Tully’s solicitor, Sinead Nolan, said Minister McEntee’s decision to review her approval of the prison transfer is welcomed by the Sheehy/Tully families and their legal team.
“It is regrettable that Tracey Tully was forced to launch a costly and traumatising High Court action to stop her son’s murderer returning to the UK just weeks after she publicly thanked the justice system for securing a life sentence.”
Ms Nolan said it was “difficult to see how the Minister can defend her position” given comments made last June by Taoiseach Michael Martin in the case of Nicola Furlong – who was murdered in Japan in 2012.
At that time Mr Martin suggested the Furlong family should be consulted before Ms Furlong’s killer was released.
“There cannot be one rule for one and a different rule for another. Tracey Tully’s submissions should have been sought by the Minister in advance of any decision being made and we are heartened by the fact that the Minister has now sought to mend her hand,” said Ms Nolan.
“We are confident that Justice will prevail and that the Minister will not continue to ignore a grieving mother,” she added.
The case returns before the High Court on November 10.
