Man pleads guilty in NI to being unlawfully at large for more than 20 years

Northern Ireland’s longest on the run prisoner has appeared in court to plead guilty to being unlawfully at large for more than 20 years.

At Antrim Crown Court, Edward James John Hickey (49) entered a guilty plea to the single charge against him that between January 2nd 2001 and January 11th, 2023, having been ordered to serve a jail sentence at HMP Magilligan “were afterwards, and before the expiration of the term for which you were so sentenced at large without lawful excuse.”

Hickey, from the Monasterboice Road, Crumlin in Dublin 12, was jailed for five years in 2000 at Belfast Crown Court for having a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life. However, having been given Christmas temporary parole, he failed to return to jail.

In court on Thursday, defence counsel Martin Morgan said “the defendant is not requesting a pre-sentence report” in what he described as a “fairly straightforward case.”