15 men serving life sentences in Cork Prison

A MAN who murdered a west Cork woman before going on a skiing holiday, and a Turkish barber who murdered his girlfriend in front of their baby son, is amongst 15 men serving life sentences in Cork prison.

The figures were confirmed by the Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald.

Among them is Bandon man Oliver Hayes, who was sentenced in 2010 to life for the 2009 murder of Kilbrittain woman Anne Corcoran. She had been missing for two and a half weeks before her body was found in a wood near Garrettstown.

In sentencing Oliver Hayes for her murder, Judge Paul Carney said there was gratuitous violence involved in the killing of the 60-year-old widow from Kilbrittain. He also said that Hayes showed a lack of genuine remorse and said he described himself as much of a victim as the unfortunate woman he had bludgeoned to death. Hayes had gone on a skiing holiday with his girlfriend after the killing and also withdrew sums of money from Mrs Corcoran’s bank account.

Turkish barber Hadim Kedik, who murdered his former partner Rose Patterson in front of their baby son in an apartment in Clonakilty in 2007, is also serving his sentence in Cork.

Others include Mark Allingham who was jailed in 2004 for the murder of Gerard Hackett in Midleton in 2002; Lloyd Buckley who was convicted in 2010 of the murder of taxi driver Michael Healy in 2010, and Keith Nagle who murdered his friend Gerard O’Mahony in 2006. He was sentenced in 2007.

In practice, prisoners serving life in prison can be given parole when their sentence comes up for review after eight years in jail.

According to Minister Fitzgerald, there were 352 lifers behind bars in Ireland’s jails for murder at the end of February.

The figures were provided by Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald in a written reply to a question from Independent TD, Tommy Broughan.

The Midlands prison houses the most lifers, with 79 there.

There are 71 serving life sentences in Wheatfield.