Two men convicted of a sectarian double murder in Co Down two years ago may lose their right to an early release, it has been disclosed.
The Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, is seeking to have authorisation for accelerated release revoked in the cases of Noel McCready and Stephen McClean, a British government spokesman confirmed.
Belfast High Court refused bail to the pair over fresh charges of attempted murder this month. McClean and McCready were given life sentences in March for the murders of two men at a bar in Poyntzpass, Co Down, two years ago.
The two prisoners qualified for early release under the terms of the Belfast Agreement. They were due to be freed from the Maze Prison next Friday in the final wave of early releases.
However, the pair, from Banbridge, Co Down, appeared in court on July 7th charged with the attempted murder of a man in the town earlier that week.
They were understood to have been out on pre-release parole at the time of the alleged attack.
In a similar case, Mr Mandelson revoked the licence of an ex-prisoner freed under the early-release scheme, after he appeared in court facing explosives charges earlier this year. He is now seeking to have the Sentence Review Commissioners' decision to accelerate the release of the pair-revoked, the spokesman confirmed.