'Border Fox' granted temporary release
Friday, 19 November 2004 22:23
RTÉ News has learned that INLA Kidnapper Dessie O'Hare has been granted temporary release.
The 48-year-old, who was known as the Border Fox, is serving a 40 year sentence for kidnapping the Dublin dentist John O'Grady in 1987 and cutting off his fingers when a ransom was not paid.
He is due back in Castlerea Prison on Sunday.
O'Hare remains one of the country's most notorious inmates because of the brutality of his crimes. Originally from Keady in Co Armagh, O' Hare originally joined the Provisional IRA in his teens but defected to the INLA.
He became known as the Border Fox in 1987 and that year he kidnapped the Dublin dentist, John O' Grady. He chopped off the tops of two of his fingers when he did not receive a ransom.
O'Hare was sentenced to 40 years in prison for that crime and was kept in the maximum security Portlaoise Prison.
However, once the High Court ruled he was a prisoner who qualified for release under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, the prison service moved him to the more open Castlerea Prison and preparations for his eventual release have been ongoing.
He was allowed out of prison last year to attend the Glencree Reconciliation Centre and although denied Christmas Parole last year, he qualifies for it this year.
The final decision on when he will be completely released rests with the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell.
