Garda's killers 'must not be freed'

The widow of an Irish police officer shot dead during an IRA robbery in County Limerick says his killers must not be given Christmas parole.

Detective Garda Jerry McCabe died after being shot during an attempted post office robbery in the village of Adair in June 1996.

His colleague Detective Garda Ben O'Sullivan was seriously injured.

Pearse McAuley from Strabane in County Tyrone and Kevin Walsh from in Limerick are serving 14 years for Garda McCabe's manslaughter.

Garda Jerry McCabe died in 1996 shooting

Also convicted on charges relating to the murder and serving sentences are Jeremiah Sheehy and Michael O'Neill from County Limerick.

McAuley had shot his way out of Brixton prison in London in 1991 with Nessan Quinliven while awaiting trial on charges of planning IRA assassinations and bombings.

Speaking on the Irish state radio station, Mrs McCabe said they should not benefit from the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

Pearse McAuley was convicted of Garda McCabe's manslaughter

Hundreds of republican and loyalist paramilitary prisoners have been released early from jail in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic under the 1998 peace process accord.

Mrs McCabe said: "The government said at the time that his killers would not come under the Agreement, because they had nothing to do with it.

"So why should they be released for Christmas, when they have nothing nothing to do with the Agreement?"