Convicted rapist who threw Bible at judge loses appeal against prison punishment

The Court of Appeal (CoA) has rejected an appeal by convicted rapist Michael Murray against a disciplinary sanction imposed on him by the prison authorities.

Murray lost ordinary privileges at the Midlands Prison for 40 days for throwing a Bible at a judge during a sentencing hearing at the Courts of Criminal Justice in late July 2021.

At that hearing Murray was given a 16-year prison sentence for making threats to the barristers who had prosecuted him, and for harassing others involved in his trial.

In 2022, the High Court dismissed an action against the governor of the Midlands Prison over the sanction.

The governor was “lawfully entitled” to discipline and sanction Murray in the manner which he did, the court held.

Murray appealed that decision.

In its judgement the three-judge panel dismissed all but one of the arguments raised by Murray in his appeal.

The CoA said it was in agreement with the conclusions reached by the High Court that the prison authority’s sanction was correct. However, it disagreed with the court’s refusal to recommend payment to Murray’s legal representatives under the Legal Aid Custody Issue Scheme.

The CoA said it was prepared to allow the appeal on that issue only.

The action arose after Murray, aged 52 years, formerly of Seafield Road, Killiney in Co Dublin, was being sentenced in July 2021 after being found guilty by a jury at the Circuit Criminal Court of threatening to kill barristers Dominic McGinn SC and Tony McGillicuddy SC.

He was also convicted of harassing Mr McGinn.

He was further convicted of harassing his former solicitor, and a woman he was convicted of raping by advertising them online as prostitutes.

Murray had denied the charges.

Murray was excluded from the sentencing hearing and moved to another courtroom to watch proceedings via a video link after he threw a Bible, narrowly missing Judge Karen O’Connor.

Murray was convicted in 2013 of the rape and sexual assault of a woman whose child he abducted. He made the threats between late 2014 and early 2015, while he was serving the 19-year sentence he received for rape.

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