Ex-superintendent jailed for drug crime is moved to open prison
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A former garda superintendent who was jailed for possession of almost €260,000 worth of cannabis and investigated for links to the Hutch gang, has been moved from the Midlands high-security prison to the open prison at Shelton Abbey.
Former superintendent John Murphy had been held in prison wings with convicted sex offenders and killers. Fellow inmates included Cork killer Graham Dwyer, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of Elaine O’Hara, and serial killer Mark Nash who is also serving a life sentence for the murders of Catherine Doyle, Carl Doyle, Sylvia Shiels, and Mary Callinan.
The wings also hold many older paedophiles and rapists, including former Christian Brothers offenders and Bill Kenneally, the Waterford sports coach jailed for indecent assaults on five boys.
“He [Murphy] goes to Shelton Abbey [in Wicklow]. It’s a much more relaxed regime there," a source from the Irish Prison Service said.
"He’ll get a mobile phone. He’ll go to work somewhere around Shelton Abbey from 9am to 5pm.
“So essentially he’ll have temporary release for the day. He goes back into society, kind-of…
"And transfer to an open centre is seen as a reward.”
It was “unprecedented” that someone of Murphy’s standing would be released so soon to an open prison, the IPS source said, adding that being in an open prison may leave the former high-ranking garda at greater risk of danger from other convicted criminals.
“He was in an area in the Midlands prison where he was protected. But he’s gone to Shelton Abbey where he will not be protected in that way.
"No garda [prisoner] has ever gone down there before. There are gangland lads down there.”
One of those at the jail and rehabilitation facility in Wicklow is gangland killer Christopher ‘Smokey’ Costello, who has been in prison for more than 20 years for his part in the 2003 murder of mob boss Kieran Keane.
But a second source insisted that the IPS carries out risk assessments for all prisoners before they enter an open prison, and that Murphy was deemed ‘very low risk’ for the prison.
“He’s been in custody since October 2021 and he’s due out in the summer of 2026 so he’s served more than half of his sentence and he’d be eligible to go to an open prison the same as anyone else,” the source said. “No special measures have been taken to protect him in there because no special measures are deemed necessary.”
Murphy pleaded guilty to having cannabis for sale or supply at his north Dublin home after gardaí found €259,000 worth of the drug in a walk-in wardrobe, coal bunker, and car at his home on September 29, 2021. In October 2022, he was sentenced to six and a half years in prison, to be backdated to the previous October when he first entered custody.
Murphy had racked up €855,000 in debt and had developed an alcohol problem, the court heard at his trial.
One of his bad investments was some €300,000 in taxi licences which he lost when the sector was deregulated.
He was also investigated by gardaí on suspicion of passing garda information to the Hutch crime gang. He was arrested in the Midlands Prison in 2023 where he was serving the six-and-a-half year sentence for possessing cannabis. He was taken to a garda station for questioning and returned to prison later that day.
Murphy worked at major Dublin garda stations including the Bridewell in the north inner city, Pearse Street, and the traffic bureau.
Celebrities, including well-known musicians, were at his retirement party, held at the Aviva Stadium in 2010 when he was aged 50.
A statement from the Irish Prison Service said: “The Irish Prison Service does not comment on individual prisoner cases.” A statement from gardaí said: “An Garda Síochána does not comment on named individuals and that her query is best placed with Irish Prison Service.”