Appeal Court judges today refused to increase 14-year prison sentences imposed on the killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe who was killed by the IRA in Adare, Co Limerick, five years ago.
Pearse McCauley (36) and Kevin Walsh (44) were jailed by the Special Criminal Court in 1999 after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Det Garda McCabe.
He was shot dead during an abortive raid on a post office in the village. McCauley and Walsh, both previously convicted for IRA-linked offences, were initially charged with murder and pleaded not guilty.
A second officer who was in the police car in which Garda McCabe died, Det Garda Ben O'Sullivan, was shot and injured in the same incident.
At the Court of Criminal Appeal earlier this year, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said the sentences imposed on the two convicted men had been "unduly lenient".
The DPP agreed the jail terms had been substantial but maintained they did not reflect the seriousness of the crime
Counsel Edward Comyn said murder charges had originally been made but that it had become clear during the trial that "certain evidence" was not available to the court and the pleas of guilty to manslaughter had been accepted.
He also argued the Special Criminal Court had not given sufficient weight to the previous convictions of the two.
Rejecting the appeal, however, the Court of Criminal Appeal said although the case was characterised by a callous disregard for human life, it would be difficult to describe the sentences as a substantial departure from what would be appropriate.
PA