Stephen Farry MLA said: “Behind the early release scheme in the Good Friday Agreement was the notion that people who had been convicted of terrorist criminal acts during the troubles offended in a particular context, and that within the new peaceful circumstances their danger to society been addressed. The power to revoke early release licences was however a major safeguard to ensure that such people who continued to pose a threat and continued to engage in criminal activities would be returned to prison to serve out their sentence.
“I am astounded that any individual would seek to organise a petition of this nature for a dangerous individual such as Torrens Knight. It is very sobering to consider that over 2000 people have already signed the petition. Given that this petition has been organised by a member of the TUV, that party’s credibility is now very much in question.”
ENDS