Double-killer John Gallagher’s sensational return to the Central Mental Hospital will be followed by his return here to Donegal within weeks.
The case of the Lifford man featured in a special report by the Prime Time current affairs show tonight.
Among those who were interviewed is Minister for Justice Alan Shatter.
And he has admitted that the Review Board could allow Gallagher back to Lifford and Co Donegal within weeks.
“It is possible he could be released within a few weeks, within a few months. I don’t know what decision the Heath Review Board will take in regards his current mental health, it’s not something I would be qualified to make an assessment on nor would it be appropriate, ” Mr Shatter said.
“He is entitled to apply, as is any other patient in the Central Mental Hospital to the independent Mental Health Review Board for release. Under that statutory provision they make that decision based on an assessment of his mental health,” said the Minister.
That has left those who believe that John Gallagher was ‘bad’ and not ‘mad’ when he murdered girlfriend Anne Gillespie and her mother Annie in Sligo in 1988 fearing that he could kill again.
“John was a spoiled brat when he killed the Gillespies and he is still a spoiled brat,” said one relative.
“I don’t think he has changed one bit in the past 25 years.”
The Minister for Justice has said he will have to review extradition laws surrounding mental health patients who abscond in the light of the John Gallagher case.
Minister Alan Shatter said he will have to review laws between the Republic and Northern Ireland after the double-killer lived just miles from the relatives of the two women he killed.
He told RTE that he may now seek to enact powers allowing patients who flee to Northern Ireland to be extradited back to the south and vice versa.
He is meeting the Six County justice minister David Forde this week.
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