A man who caused the death of a serving police officer when he crashed into her car has been jailed for being unlawfully at large.
Outlining how Shane Frane is currently serving an indeterminate sentence for the manslaughter of constable Philippa Reynolds, Judge Patrick McGurgen ordered that his sentence will only start now.
Jailing the 37-year-old at Craigavon Crown Court, the judge said the guidelines for absconding from prison were clear in that “prisoners given temporary home leave have a responsibility to honour that”.
Last week, Frane, originally from Limerick, pleaded guilty to a charge that he was unlawfully at large on January 17.
Frane was jailed in 2014 after he admitted a range of offences including the manslaughter of Ms Reynolds who died in a fatal car crash in Derry in February 2013.
The 27-year-old died following a road traffic collision when a stolen Toyota Landcruiser being driven by Frane crashed into her unmarked police car in the Waterside area.
He was ordered to serve at least six years of an indeterminant sentence.
On January 17, he was granted temporary release with orders to take the train to Belfast to meet a named individual and to return to prison by 6pm that evening.
Police enquiries established that he took the train to Dublin instead.
Frane surrendered himself to gardai in February and was then extradited back to the north.
Judge McGurgen said given the indeterminate nature of the original sentence for the police officer’s manslaughter he could not order his sentence to be served consecutively.