Inmate gets eight-year sentence over prison siege
One of six inmates who held five Mountjoy Prison officers hostage during a siege in the Dublin jail almost 10 years ago was today sentenced to eight years imprisonment.
Joseph Cooper, 33, with an address in Manchester, England, was part of the gang of prisoners who threatened the warders with strangulation and blood-filled syringes over a 53-hour period in January 1997.
One of the other men involved in the siege, which erupted after a planned rooftop protest failed, was Paul Ward, the man convicted but later cleared of the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin.
Cooper was serving five years for assault at the time of the incident, but was granted bail by the High Court and fled to England in 1999 before he was due to stand trial for his part in the siege.
While there he married, fathered three children and worked as a cleaner and driver.
His wife of two years gave evidence that Cooper was a reformed family man, while a doctor testified that he was a significantly changed character from a decade before.
Cooper came to the attention of police in Britain when he was charged with affray, for which he was sentenced to six months in jail.
When the Irish authorities were notified he consented to extradition and pleaded guilty to false imprisonment.
Judge Catherine Delahunt told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court this afternoon that the prison officers had been subjected to three days of a virtual hell-like experience.
She said three of the warders no longer worked for the prison service and two were now in administrative roles.
Cooper had in his possession at the time of the siege various weapons, including a home-made double-bladed implement, a steel bar and on occasion a syringe.
This gave rise to the belief that the protest was not intended to be as peaceful as was first made out, she said.
She noted Cooper and his colleagues were given medication by the authorities which indicated there were problems and there was evidence that he had shown some leniency towards the prison officers.
The court heard he had nine previous convictions including a separate conviction for false imprisonment.
A garda superintendent gave evidence that Cooper was not considered the ringleader of the siege but was a central figure.
Cooper’s sentence was backdated to September 2005 when a warrant for his extradition was issued.
Judge Delahunt refused leave for appeal and refused legal aid.
