Loyalist Killer Robert Clarke Pushes for Custody-and-Release Arrangement in Legal Fight

A loyalist killer is reportedly seeking a deal that would allow him to be taken into custody and then immediately released, enabling him to avoid returning to prison.

The case involving Robert Clarke has dragged on for seven years without going to trial, beginning with a bail request by a former IRA member accused of a double murder.

Clarke recently lost a legal bid to avoid being sent back to prison after the Court of Appeal in March dismissed his judicial review, ruling that he had been wrongly granted early release under the Good Friday Agreement, the Irish News US reported.

Robert Clarke was convicted in 2011 for the 1973 murder of cafe owner Alfredo Fusco. The Sentence Review Commission (SRC) is now insisting he must return to prison before any new application can be considered, according to his Newry-based solicitor, Danny McNamee.

McNamee said the 74-year-old could be arrested at any time. He is seeking interim relief from the courts on April 13 to prevent that, with a hearing scheduled for April 16 that could determine Clarke’s future.

“The Sentencing Review Commission is saying they will not accept his application until he is back in prison,” McNamee said. “We are asking them to design a scheme where he can be put into custody, sign his application papers and then immediately be given temporary release. But they are not playing ball.”

Under the Legacy Act, Clarke would be eligible for early release, and McNamee said he has “already done the underlying two years.”

Clarke previously served 15 years of a life sentence for the 1973 murder of a Catholic woman, Margaret O’Neill.

In 2011, the Historical Enquiries Team re-examined Fusco’s case. Forensic analysis of a handprint and fingerprints recovered at the scene matched Clarke.

He was released under laws governing historical Troubles-related offences after serving just under two years.

McNamee said authorities had likely chosen not to prosecute the Fusco case earlier because Clarke was already serving a life sentence. “We surmise it was an offence the RUC had looked at and decided not to prosecute as he was already doing a life sentence,” he said.

He added that Clarke stayed away from politics after his release in 1990 and had little support. “He was an easy target,” McNamee said.

However, Clarke later became involved in criminal activity linked to a fuel business operating near the international airport and Shankill Road.

He was accused of participating in a fuel smuggling conspiracy involving dozens of individuals, including south Armagh republicans, former footballers and a bar owner.

In 2019, Clarke was convicted of converting nearly £4 million that he knew or suspected came from criminal conduct. He received a two-year sentence, suspended for 18 months. He had previously served 12 months in prison for fraudulently evading customs duty connected to the same conspiracy.

The 1998 agreement allowing paramilitary prisoners early release applied to offences committed after 1973, but the Legacy Act extended eligibility to offences committed after 1966.

Only a small number of individuals have been prosecuted for offences spanning the conflict since the 1998 agreement, and Clarke is believed to be one of just five prosecuted for pre-1973 crimes.

Those cases include Soldier F, acquitted of two Bloody Sunday murders, and two soldiers whose trial for the 1972 killing of Joe McCann collapsed. Another is John Downey, 73, who is accused of killing two UDR soldiers in a 1972 IRA bomb attack in Enniskillen and has yet to stand trial.

It was during one of Downey’s bail hearings in 2019 that Clarke was identified as having been wrongly released under the peace agreement.

The revelation triggered extensive communication between officials at the Northern Ireland Office, the Public Prosecution Service, the SRC and senior police.

However, police declined to pursue Clarke as unlawfully at large, leading to seven years of legal proceedings involving the Secretary of State, the SRC and Clarke’s judicial review.