DOUBLE killer John Gallagher has escaped a prison sentence after a charge of escaping justice was thrown out of a court.
The 46-year-old shot ex-girlfriend Ann Gillespie (18) and her mum Annie in Sligo in 1988 and found guilty but insane at his trial a year later.
He went AWOL from the Central Medical Hospital in 2000
He handed himself to the hospital again in May and was released in June and moved back to Strabane.
Dublin District Court Judge Catherine Murphy ruled the serving of a summons at his mother’s address in Lifford rendered it defective and struck out the case.
The DPP wanted to charge him with escaping lawful custody in 2000.