Soldier killer in NI prison move

Michael McAleavey is to be transferred to Northern Ireland

A Belfast man who has served almost 25 years in prison for the murder of three of his Irish Army colleagues is to be transferred to Northern Ireland.

Michael McAleavey had applied to be transferred from Mountjoy Jail in Dublin to be closer to his family.

McAleavey received a life sentence for the October 1982 killings in Lebanon, where the soldiers were UN peacekeepers. He was 21 at the time.

The families of the murdered soldiers have expressed their upset at the news.

They said it had come at a particularly difficult time, just days before the 25th anniversary of the murder of the three soldiers.

McAleavey shot fellow privates Peter Burke and Thomas Murphy and Corporal Gary Morrow at Tibnin Bridge, South Lebanon, on 27 October 1982.

Michael McAleavey killed three other Irish Army soldiers

The west Belfast man initially said his unit had been attacked by Lebanese gunmen.

However, he later admitted that he had "cracked" under a combination of pressure and heat exhaustion and killed his colleagues.

He is one of the longest-serving prisoners in Ireland, and has has fought for several years to be repatriated to Northern Ireland, so that he can be closer to his family.

If he applies for parole in the future, any decision will be taken by the Prison Service of Northern Ireland.

In 2005, he gave his first ever newspaper interview to the Irish News. He told the paper that his call for repatriation was not meant to hurt his victims' families.

"In all my 22 years in prison I have never sought publicity," he said.

"One of the major reasons for this is that I have always reflected on how an open appeal in the media would affect the families of the soldiers who were killed. I have hoped never to add to the burden of their suffering.

"And I hope that this appeal is seen only for what it is, a humanitarian application for transfer to another prison that is close to my family."

He will make the move in the next few weeks.