Belfast Solicitors McIvor Farrell representing Deborah McGuinness, sister of one of Michael Stone’s victims have been successful in the case to ensure Stone serves the remainder of his sentence.
Ms McGuinness had been seeking a judicial review of the DoJ calculation of Stone’s tariff. After 6 years freed on-licence under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, Stone was convicted of an attack at Stormont and returned to prison.
Ms McGuiness’ legal team and Ronan Lavery QC argued that the term on-license should form part of the calculation and today High Court judges agreed that the Department of Justice had wrongly calculated the sentence. Michael Stone will now not be eligible for parole until 2024.
Speaking about the case solicitor Paul Farrell stated that the case would have “far reaching ramifications for life sentence prisoners” in Northern Ireland.
