Call for serial on-the-run prisoners to lose licence rights as murder convict Thomas McCabe - who bashed teenager's face in with a metal pipe - goes missing for seventh time

The party's justice spokeswoman Joanne Bunting MLA delivered the message as the police continue to seek Thomas McCabe.

He was in jail for murder and vanished on August 23 while on day release from Maghaberry.

The judge at the time of his conviction said McCabe was particularly dangerous when drinking.

Aged either 59 or 60, he has a long history of going AWOL.

The last time (that the News Letter is aware of) was in January 2018, after which it took two years to recapture him.

McCabe is described as slim, 5ft 6in, with blue eyes and a broken nose.

He has tattoos on his arms of a tricolour flag, a skull, and scrolls, and the word LOVE across the fingers of his right hand.

Anyone who spots him is asked to ring police, or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

• WHAT WAS THOMAS MCCABE IN JAIL FOR? •

McCabe, originally from Northern Ireland, was convicted in 1990 of murdering Richard Hunt, the 18-year-old cousin of his 19-year-old girlfriend at her flat in England.

The victim had been unknown to McCabe, who was 26 at the time.

McCabe had drunkenly entered the flat and the teenager just happened to be there; McCabe assumed – for no reason – that he must be having an affair with his girlfriend.

A pathologist found the victim's cause of death was at least eight blows to the face and head with a two-foot-long metal scaffolding pole.

An account of the murder scene from McCabe's girlfriend reads as follows:

"[McCabe] smiled at her and then walked into the bathroom. She found her cousin lying in an armchair covered in blood. She touched his hand but he did not move.

"She met [McCabe] who said: 'Have you got a towel for my hands?'

"She called to a friend to phone the police. [McCabe] kept walking in and out of the living room. He was just laughing.

"She told him that she was going to have him arrested.

"He said: 'It only takes a letter to come out of the prison and you’ll be blown away. You and your baby…”

One year earlier, McCabe had been released from a 15 month sentence for robbing a vagrant.

He was given a life sentence for the 1990 murder, with a minimum tariff of 11 years.

However, a characteristic of a life sentence is that a convict can be kept in jail for the rest of their life if they keep breaking the terms of their licence or commit more crimes.

After his 11-year minimum tariff elapsed, McCabe embarked on a fight through the courts to get freed.

But in 2007 the Court of Appeal found that he “remained a danger to the public”, mainly because he had lapsed back into alcoholism during the many times he had absconded (set out below).

• DEPARTMENT DOESN'T RULE OUT GRANTING HIM TEMPORARY RELEASE AGAIN •

Official documents show that McCabe was unlawfully-at-large on four occasions between 1990 and 2002, and then again in 2003.

Once you add his more recent disappearances in 2018 and 2023 to that list, it makes seven times.

The true number may well be higher, but it is impossible to know since the Department of Justice refuses to answer any questions about it.

Here is what the News Letter asked the department:

1) How many times has Thomas McCabe now been unlawfully at large since 1990?

2) Why does he keep getting let out when he constantly absconds?

3) Has he ever been charged with escaping lawful custody in relation to his disappearances (carrying a possible term of three years in jail), and has anyone ever been charged with assisting him to escape lawful custody (maximum sentence: 10 years)?

4) Once he is recaptured this time, will he still be eligible for temporary release?

Instead of answering any of these questions, the department sent this generic response:

“Prisoners approaching the end of their sentence will be tested prior to release back into the community.

"Those individuals will have fully engaged in a number of previous tests, which challenge and support them to make positive change in their lives.

"After being fully assessed, they begin a graduated release programme into the community, firstly under supervision then progressing to short time bounded periods of unaccompanied release where they work in the community.

“Preparing people for release is a vital part of rehabilitation as it reduces their risk of re-offending which helps to make the community safer. Those participating in this release programme are less likely to re-offend.

"Like any test, unfortunately, failure is part of the process."

Asked why it would not answer the four questions above, the department did not answer.

However, the News Letter has uncovered at least a partial answer to question 3: according to court papers, it turns out that by 2007 he had been found guilty of being unlawfully at large four times, though it is not clear what his sentences were, or whether more such convictions came later.

• 'WE SHOULDN'T LET PEOPLE BECOME SERIAL ON-THE-RUNS' •

Speaking of McCabe's most recent disappearance, Ms Bunting told the News Letter: ‘‘Thomas McCabe is a convicted murderer with a track record of breaching licence conditions and evading the authorities.

"The public will find it hard to fathom why he was deemed a suitable candidate for temporary release from prison in the first place.

"The immediate priority at this stage must be detaining this individual as soon as possible.

"There is a place for graduated release arrangements but the public must be assured that effective supervision is in place to prevent absconding.

"Serious criminals should not be facilitated to become serial on-the-runs by rules that do not take into account previous escapes.

"Those who abuse rehabilitation programmes must face the consequences.

"Ultimately that should mean a prisoner being unable to engage in such processes in the future.’’

• 'OPERATION RELENTLESS' •

The News Letter has been leading the way in exposing the lack of concern shown by the authorities whenever suspects / prisoners go missing.

Perhaps the most famous example was that of Damien McLaughlin, a convicted terrorist who was awaiting trial over the murder of a prison guard in 2016 when he fled Belfast for the Republic of Ireland.

He was meant to sign for bail regularly at a police station, but when he stopped doing so officers did not check up on his whereabouts for about a month.

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Last year the News Letter revealed that a foreign national who was facing a charge of ABH, Stasys Martinkus, had been at large since October 2021, when he had failed to turn up to court.

The PSNI had said nothing about his disappearance for 10 months, until they eventually mentioned the fact on their Mid Ulster Facebook page as part of a wider operation to track down missing suspects (ironically titled 'Operation Relentless').

And coming back to Thomas McCabe again, in August 2020, while he was still missing, the News Letter discovered his name had been mistakenly taken off the public "wanted" list.

This was due to “an administrative oversight”, the Department of Justice said.

But even when the News Letter pointed out the error, the department was in no hurry to do anything about it; it took another three days before he was added to the list again.

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