Justice minister ‘deeply concerned’ over temporary release of convicted killer

The court service has now published the full 15 page judgement from the judicial review. It reveals the decision to refuse Anderson’s request to attend the funeral was taken by the duty governor at Maghaberry Prison.

But the judge found that that decision “was based upon inaccurate information which was material to the key issue of the potential risks posed by the applicant”.

“The information which was considered was also materially disadvantageous to the applicant.”

That’s a reference to an internal assessment of the likelihood of Anderson reoffending, which was wrongly recorded at a higher level than recorded in the internal system.

A legal representative for the prison service admitted to the court that “information containing an increased score came, not from the duty governor’s personal knowledge, but from a colleague. When the system was checked, the score was sitting at 27 (medium likelihood) and not 32 (high likelihood) as stated in the decision letter.”

The judge, Mr Justice Rooney, found “the duty governor clearly took account of this incorrect information when making his own risk assessment and when conducting a proportionality assessment”.

He invited the duty governor to review the decision but that offer was declined, in a move the judge described as “somewhat surprising”.