THE mother of murdered Irish champion boxer, Kevin Sheehy is seeking a face-to-face meeting with Justice Minster Simon Harris as soon as possible, to ask him to reconsider his decision granting her son’s killer a transfer to an English jail.
Minister Harris said yesterday that he was obligated under international human rights law to accede to killer Logan Jackson’s transfer application.
However, Mr Sheehy’s mother, Tracey Tully claimed her human rights have been breached and ignored by the State for granting Jackson’s transfer request, which he made after just eight weeks into his life sentence.
Coventry native Jackson repeatedly struck the 20-year-old Limerick man with a 4×4 vehicle, in an unprovoked attack, on July 1, 2019 and he received a life sentence in December 2021.
Speaking yesterday (Friday) Ms Tully said she would not give up the fight for justice and would investigate all legal avenues to try to prevent Jackson from being repatriated to England.
She said Jackson should serve most or all of his sentence in Ireland, the country where he murdered her son, was convicted by a jury and sentenced by an Irish court.
“I want a meeting with Minster Harris. I want him to consider reversing the decision he made Thursday. I want to know why,” Ms Tully said.
“Kevin’s murder is coming up on four years now and I have not been allowed my human rights and my family’s human rights to grieve. You can’t heal from what you don’t understand, and I do not understand this decision.
“I feel like my soul is being destroyed, I am back in this nightmare.
My son was a five-time Irish boxing champion, he was reared very well. His priority in life was to put his town and his city on the map, and at a very young age he knew this was possible. Kevin was primed and ready for the Olympics and it is such a huge huge let down.”
Ms Tully said Jackson “brutally massacred” her beloved son who she said had lived for sport and his family.
She said the State had not shown her family respect and, because of this, she has not been able “to pick up the pieces” after their loss.
Ms Tully praised Gardaí for bringing her son’s killer to justice but she said the justice system, and the Minister for Justice, failed to adequately communicate with her about her son’s case.
“I’m worried about other families that this could happen to,” she said.
Her friend and fellow justice campaigner Mary Fitzpatrick whose son Michael, (19), was stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack in Limerick in 1999, said: “Some people can’t deal with coping with the effects of a murder inflicted on them out of the blue.
“I know parents who have taken their lives or who have ended up in terrible situations because they didn’t know what to do. Thank God Tracey didn’t go down that route.
“There needs to be a change, a clear, transparent and open communication from all departments involved, to the victims families, so that something like this won’t happen again to somebody else,” Ms Fitzpatrick said.
Ms Tully said Jackson remains a key witness in her son’s murder investigation and he should not leave this jurisdiction.
“Logan Jackson is still a part of a very active and ongoing investigation in relation to others connected to the murder, so how can the minister just let him leave our country. It’s unbelievable really.
“The Minister made reference to the ‘particular circumstances of this case’, and that it was necessary to allow the transfer. I’m sorry, but this is all so wrong.”
Reliable sources said Jackson has been informed his life is in danger and that there are concerns for his security and the security of others while he is in Limerick Prison.
Ms Tully, whose son had no links to Jackson, said her family are not behind any threat to Jackson.
“Some have implied that Jackson is under a death threat and is in solitary confinement but he is not under any death threat from us
“The Minister stated he had great difficulty allowing Logan Jackson to go home. He should try being me.
“The minister says he is satisfied Logan Jackson can expect to spend many more years in prison. I’m sorry but how will he know that. How will I know that? I will know nothing, as usual.”
