Courts

Man (73) jailed for applying for passports in the name of dead infants after facing ‘visa difficulties’

Judge says actions of Randolph Kirk Parker threatened ‘the integrity’ of Ireland’s passport system

The actions of Randolph Kirk Parker (73) had threatened 'the integrity of the passport system in this country', the judge said. Photograph: Cork Courts/Provision

Olivia Kelleher
Mon Apr 22 2024 - 13:24

An American man who applied for passports in the names of two dead babies after he ran in to “visa difficulties” whilst doing business in Europe has been jailed for 3½ years with the last 15 months suspended.

Sentencing Randolph Kirk Parker (73) at Cork Circuit Criminal Court on Monday, Judge Jonathan Dunphy said his actions had threatened “the integrity of the passport system in this country”.

Det Garda Padraig Hanley of the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation said reports relating to Parker first came to their attention in 2017.

He said Parker made an application in 2022 from Amsterdam to renew an Irish passport in the name of Geoffrey Warbrook. This application sparked an investigation as Geoffrey Warbrook was the name of a child who died in the early 1950s in Ireland when he was an infant, he said.

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The court heard Parker was arrested on September 14th last at the passport office in Cork, where he had appeared to renew a passport in the name of Philip Frank Morris.

Det Garda Hanley said Parker applied for a “fast-track passport” under that name in order to leave the country. Gardaí at the time believed that Philip Frank Morris was Parker’s real name, but later established that this person an Irish-born infant who died in 1952.

“We had two identities for this person and four passports were applied for,” the witness said. “Two applications in the name of Philip Morris and two in the name of Geoffrey Warbrook. He had falsely obtained genuine Irish passports ... We had no idea who this person was.”

Inquiries were carried out with the assistance of Interpol, the US Embassy and Irish and international agencies with the suspect’s fingerprints circulated seeking a match.

It turned out he had a US arrest record from 1970 in Michigan and was identified as Randolph Kirk Parker, who held an Irish passport for three decades but only recently obtained a PPS number.

In February, Parker was sent forward for sentencing after pleading guilty to four counts of using false information to obtain passports and one count of possessing a false instrument. The false instrument referred to was an Irish driving licence issued in 2011 in the name of Philip Morris.

Det Garda Hanley told Judge Dunphy he interviewed Parker on two occasions, describing it as an “unusual’ experience as the defendant did not co-operate and refused to answer questions but was not obstructive.

He said gardaí had “very little” by way of information about Parker but that he did hold a US passport in 1999.

“We believed he first entered Ireland in 1988 through Shannon Airport then travelled over Europe and lived in Amsterdam. He had VHI here and a post office box at an address in Dublin and numerous friends all over Ireland who knew him by a different name entirely.”

Gardaí spoke to a brother of the late Philip Morris, who died aged four months in 1953, and also engaged with relatives of Geoffrey Warbrook, who died as an infant in the early 1950s.

Defence barrister Brendan Kelly said his client applied for false passports after he encountered “visa difficulties” in the course of his business activities. Parker met a man with a “knowledge of the Irish passport system” who gave him advice, the court heard.

Mr Kelly said his client was a “very affable, articulate, intelligent man” who was “pleasant to deal with”. He said Parker’s time in custody would be difficult for him as he is a foreign national with no family ties to Ireland.

Judge Dunphy described as aggravating factors the time and costs the State faced in finding out Parker’s true identity, the breach of trust to all those who knew him for years under a false identity, and his lack of co-operation. He said mitigating factors included a guilty plea and the lack of previous convictions.

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