A veteran republican, jailed for shooting a part-time police officer has won the legal right to challenge the prison service over their refusal to release him on St Patrick’s Day so he can watch Slaughtneil in the All-Ireland club final
Séamus Kearney took the Belfast High Court case after not being allowed out of jail on Valentine’s Day.
He is serving life – but will only serve two years under the Good Friday Agreement.
The Prison Service only allows him out for eight hours at a time; but Kearney wants out for 48 hours next Monday and Tuesday so he support Slaughtneil.
Granting leave to seek a judicial review, Mr Justice Treacy fixed the case for a full hearing on Friday.
Kearney (58), from Maghera, received a minimum 20- year prison sentence in December 2013 for killing John Proctor in September 1981.
The victim, a 25-year-old RUC Reserve Constable, was shot dead by the IRA minutes after going to see his wife and child at the Mid Ulster Hospital in Magherafelt, Co Derry.
Kearney had denied murder and possessing an Armalite AR15 rifle.
However, a judge found him guilty after hearing key evidence that his DNA profile was on a cigarette butt found among spent bullet casings at the scene.
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