Two republican prisoners serving life sentences lost a court challenge yesterday against the British Home Secretary's ruling that "life should mean life". Paul Kavanagh and Thomas Quigley, from west Belfast, were sentenced at the Old Bailey in 1985 for three murders arising out of IRA bomb attacks in London.
They were transferred to Maghaberry Prison, Co Antrim, in 1994 but remain on "temporary transfer", which means they are not eligible for extra remission available to permanent transfer prisoners or those sentenced in Northern Ireland.
Kavanagh's wife, Martina, and Ella O'Dwyer, from Roscrea, Co Tipperary, also lost their applications for a judicial review of the decision not to grant them permanent transfers. Both were sentenced to life for conspiracy to cause explosions in Britain and were also transferred temporarily to Maghaberry.
In a reserved judgment, Mr Justice Kerr said that according to the Home Office, the tariff set by Mr Michael Howard was "whole life" for Kavanagh and Quigley and 20 years for Anderson and O'Dwyer.