End of 50% remission long overdue – McCarthy

Alliance Party Chief Whip Kieran McCarthy MLA has welcomed the end of the “nonsense of automatic 50% remission”, and said it was a shame it took such a long time and such a tough campaign to end it.

The Strangford MLA stated: “It is bewildering that it took so long in Northern Ireland to introduce an obviously better system already in use elsewhere in the UK. Ministers failed in their duty to protect the public by this negligence.

“It had been evident for a long time that automatic 50% remission was a nonsense, and it is a pity it took such a tragic case to put an end to it.

“Some people are fundamentally a danger to society, and society should be free from them. The independent parole board cannot be established quickly enough.”

ENDS