My limbs are bow’d, though not with toil,
But rusted with a vile repose,
For they have been a dungeon’s spoil,
And mine has been the fate of those
To whom the goodly earth and air
Are bann’d, and barr’d – forbidden fare
LORD BYRON's poem, The Prisoner of Chillon, was invoked by bank robber Keith Littlejohn in a personal appeal to taoiseach Charles Haughey for his early release from Dublin's Mountjoy Prison.
Brothers Kenneth and Keith Littlejohn were jailed in August 1973 for the robbery of £67,000 from an AIB branch on Grafton Street the previous October.
They claimed they were working for British intelligence to generate pressure for the introduction of internment in the Republic.
Kenneth was sentenced to 20 years penal servitude and Keith to 15. In January 1973, the Irish Embassy in London was told by the British authorities that Kenneth Littlejohn had a connection with the intelligence services.
Then-taoiseach Jack Lynch was informed of this in a report at the time by ambassador Donal O’Sullivan.
Later in the year, when he had gone into opposition after a general election, Lynch denied having seen the report but, when notified that it was on file, he said he had forgotten about it.
It also emerged that Kenneth had met British junior defence minister Geoffrey Johnson-Smith in November 1971.
The brothers escaped from Mountjoy in March 1974 but were recaptured. In 1976 they made another escape attempt which was unsuccessful.
In his letter to Mr Haughey dated November 17th, 1980, which has now been released to the National Archives under the 30- year rule, Keith Littlejohn wrote: “I’m beginning to feel like Byron’s ‘Prisoner of Chillon’.”
He said that at the age of 33, he was approaching his ninth Christmas in continuous custody and wished to make a submission concerning “the place in which I have forfeited my youth”, ie, a cellar in Mountjoy known as “B Base”.
“At no time during the British occupation of the Republic [sic] was a person confined in such conditions for nearly a decade. I am certain that no person has been required to endure such an ordeal in any prison in western Europe in this century.”
He pointed out that under the British parole system, many of those involved in the “Great Train Robbery” had served less time than he had to date.
Littlejohn added: “We are imprisoned as criminals, yet we are informed that our release will be a ‘political decision’.”
Claiming the H-Block prisoners in the North were better treated, he continued: “Ken and I have served a worthy period of retribution and have become acutely aware of our ages – he is now 40 – and not alone the lost opportunities but the effect of a further extended period without liberty.”
He concluded: “I apologise if this letter is badly constructed but it is difficult to know where to start, what detail to include or whether it is a positive exercise. Yours Respectfully, Keith Littlejohn.”
Shortly before the letter was written, the High Court had refused an order of habeas corpus to the brothers who claimed they were suffering discrimination as foreign nationals, as well as torture, by being imprisoned in a basement with inmates who were psychiatrically disturbed.
Haughey replied that he was referring the matter to minister for justice Gerard Collins. However, Collins had already written to the taoiseach on October 19th about the possible release of the Littlejohns “on humanitarian grounds”.
An attached memorandum describes the conditions in “B Base” as follows: “It is a dim place with a low ceiling. Facilities there are restricted. The whole atmosphere of the place is oppressive and it must make it particularly difficult for prisoners serving a long sentence to do their time.”
The brothers were eventually released the following September by Fine Gael minister for justice Jim Mitchell and were immediately deported to London. Evidence of an attempt to dig a tunnel underneath Keith’s cell was found after they left Mountjoy.
Kenneth was jailed for six years in 1982 for his part in an armed robbery in Chesterfield, England.