The Supreme Court yesterday reserved judgment on an appeal by the State against a High Court refusal to extradite Crumlin Road Prison escaper, Angelo Fusco, to Northern Ireland.
Opening the appeal, Mr Edward Comyn SC, for the State, claimed the High Court was wrong in a 1995 decision refusing the extradition of Fusco (39), formerly from Slieve Ban in Belfast, but now living in Co Kerry.
Mr Comyn said Mr Justice Geoghegan erred in finding that it would, by reason of lapse of time since the offences were carried out and other special circumstances, be "unjust, oppressive and invidious" to allow the extradition.
The judge should also have taken into account the seriousness of the crimes for which Fusco had been convicted. Fusco is wanted by the Northern Ireland authorities to serve a life sentence imposed in 1981 for the murder of SAS Capt Herbert Westmacott and on other charges.
The sentence was imposed two days after Fusco and a group of other prisoners escaped from Belfast's Crumlin Road jail.
He was subsequently re-arrested in the Republic in 1982 and jailed for 10 years at the Special Criminal Court on escape and firearms charges. After an attempted escape from Portlaoise Prison in June 1986, he was ordered to undergo a consecutive period of imprisonment and was due for release in December 1991.
However, days before he was due for release, he was brought before Dublin District Court on foot of five extradition warrants relating to the murder of Capt Westmacott, two attempted murders and two counts of having firearms with intent to endanger life.
His extradition was ordered by Dublin District Court on January 8th 1992, but Fusco appealed the order to the High Court. In 1995, Mr Justice Geoghegan granted the appeal.
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