Prison officers angry at length of sentences on prisoners in siege

The Prison Officers' Association (POA) has called an emergency meeting this morning to discuss yesterday's sentencing of two prisoners involved in the Mountjoy hostage crisis.

The POA general secretary, Mr Tom Hoare, said last night prison officers were extremely angry at the lengths of the sentences handed down to the two prisoners who pleaded guilty. Officers at Mountjoy Prison where the officers were held hostage were threatening industrial action, he said.

The Director of Public Prosecutions can appeal the sentences on the grounds of leniency. Last week a four-year suspended sentence imposed on Gerrit Isenborger for shooting a county sheriff was successfully appealed. The Court of Criminal Appeal imposed a fiveyear prison sentence.

Of the five prison officers involved in the siege only one has returned to work. Two have retired on medical grounds and another two are being paid pension-rate pay, and feel unable to return to work after the trauma of the 52-hour siege.

"The judgment does nothing to help victims," Mr Hoare said. "There has been a very, very bad reaction in the prison service."

One of the men, Eamonn Seery (34), from Ballymun, is expected to start his two-year sentence next month.

Seery is already serving an eight-year sentence for assault imposed in 1993. When this sentence expires in August he will begin the two-year sentence imposed yesterday. He could then expect to be released in 18 months, given standard quarter remission.

Edward Ferncombe's three-year sentence is expected to be backdated to February 1998, the date on which his last sentence expired. He had been convicted of manslaughter in 1991 for the stabbing of a Mormon missionary in Clondalkin, Co Dublin. The sentencing sent out the "wrong message", Mr Hoare said. "If the State can't protect its prison officers, how can it protect the 70-year-old living in fear in the west of Ireland?"

During the hearing a detective inspector told the court Seery had been the most stable and calm of the prisoners and had not assaulted or threatened to assault any of the officers. He also agreed with defence counsel that Ferncombe had been next in line after Seery as the least violent prisoner.

Three other prisoners accused of taking part in the siege are due to be tried in April.