Mother of murdered Limerick boxer won't stop until she 'gets answers'
THE mother of five-time national boxing champion, Kevin Sheehy, has expressed disgust at the decision to transfer her son’s murderer to an English jail over safety reasons. All she wants is answers for her son’s “beautiful soul.”
Earlier this month, Kevin Sheehy’s convicted murderer, Logan Jackson, was transferred from Limerick Prison to a UK jail, for his own safety.
It has now been revealed that Jackson could not serve the remainder of his term in 'any Irish prison' as the authorities feared he might be harmed or killed in custody.
In response to a query from the Limerick Leader / Limerick Live, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice, said Minister for Justice, Simon Harris, “acceded to the request of Mr Jackson to serve the remainder of his term in a UK prison.”
With an extraordinary acknowledgment by the State, the statement notes that a prisoner who committed a murder in the State could not be detained in any Irish Prison due to “very significant security risks” over the prisoner’s safety.
Logan Jackson, aged in his mid 30s, of Longford Road, Coventry, England, was sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2021 after being convicted of murdering five-time national boxing champion, Kevin Sheehy.
The 20-year-old Olympic hopeful died after being run over by the murderer, Jackson, who was driving a 4x4 vehicle at Hyde Road, in Limerick on July 1, 2019.
Last year, Kevin’s mother, Tracey Tully, initiated High Court proceedings in a bid to stop her son’s murderer from being transferred to a prison in his native England.
Despite the protests, the Department of Justice says Mr Harris “was obliged to act in a manner consistent with the obligations under international law.”
However, for Kevin’s mother, Tracey Tully, the decision is “disgusting” and she feels “mentally tortured and gaslighted” by the government.
“I’ve sent him three emails now that haven’t been responded to. I’ve been told second-hand information, that he’s going to reach out, but I haven’t heard anything from him yet.
“A murderer’s human rights were put before my son’s human rights, and my family’s human rights,” Tracey told the Limerick Leader this Friday.
“They flung bills at me for just asking a question,” she points out. Tracey asked why her son’s murderer “was repatriated 8 weeks into sentence,” she added.
For Tracey, it all seems “very sudden” and she’s disheartened that her own government would treat a family in this manner.
Kevin’s daughter, Kevaeh, was born shortly after his death.
“My granddaughter was born one month after her daddy had been brutally murdered, she never got to see her daddy,” Tracey says. “He never got to fulfil his Olympic dream.”
Speaking of the murder trial at the Central Criminal Court, she recalls: “We heard first-hand information at the trial of my son, how bad his injuries were.”
Tracey notes that one of the Minister’s reasons for sending Logan to an English jail is because he “was on a 23-hour lock-up and was being threatened.”
The grieving mother finds that hard to believe. “That’s another question I have for the Minister. I’d like to know who was threatening him because it nearly reflects badly on my family. He was on 23 hour lock-up at his own request,” she said.
All Tracey wants is answers for her son’s “beautiful soul,” and she won’t stop until she gets them.
Aged 12, Kevin told his mother he’d be going to the Olympics. “I said, I know you are,” she recalls. “That was his goal, and he was almost there. I will not stop until I get the right answers. My son was absolutely the most beautiful soul in the world.”
Kevin’s mother wouldn’t wish this upon anyone. “It does need to be highlighted, I don’t want this to happen to another family.”