The High Court was informed today that two males, sought for extradition by Northern Ireland in relation to a murder case that dates back almost half a century, will fight the request, citing it as ‘abuse of process’. The men in question are John Edward McNicholl, 72, a resident of Newmills, Letterkenny, County Donegal, and Seamus Christopher O’Kane, 73, from Scalestown, Dunshaughlin, County Meath. Both men are currently being sought for charges surrounding the investigation of the killing of Constable Robert John McPherson, a 25-year-old Royal Ulster Constabulary officer who was murdered in County Derry on the 26th of July, 1975.
McNicholl is accused of the murder and attempted murder of a second constable, while O’Kane faces accusations of possession of weaponry, including a firearm belonging to the RUC seized during the attack on Constable McPherson. Despite McNicholl living in Ireland since 2003, the UK has yet to make an attempt at his surrender until now, a fact that Mark Lynam SC will argue constitutes a “major abuse of process” on behalf of his client, McNicholl.
John Berry BL is also planning to argue similar grounds for his client, O’Kane. Today’s hearing was attended by Independent TD for Donegal, Thomas Pringle, who previously provided an independent surety for McNicholl. The court’s presiding judge, Mr Justice Patrick McGrath, adjourned discussing the issue further until July 10th. This year, as part of the ongoing investigation into Constable McPherson’s murder, arrest warrants for both McNicholl and O’Kane were issued, following a request by the Northern Ireland authorities.
Both gentlemen, Mr McNicholl and Mr O’Kane, are confronting four accusations connected to the possession of weapons and explosives in Derry County, Garvagh, on the 16th of February, 1976. Within that vicinity, a firearm issued by the RUC was retrieved, assumed to have been snatched during the attack on Constable McPherson. The extradition warrant for Mr O’Kane stipulates that he, along with others, managed to elude custody at the Maze prison in Northern Ireland on the 5th of May, 1976 before a judgment was passed to indict him for said four crimes. Currently, both individuals have been released on bail.