A MAN who caused the death of a serving police officer when he crashed into her car appeared in court on Wednesday where he admitted being unlawfully at large from prison.
Standing in the dock of Craigavon Crown Court, 37-year-old Shane Frane entered a guilty plea to the single charge against him that he was unlawfully at large on 17 January this year.
Prosecuting counsel Joseph Murphy said there was agreement between the Public Prosecution Service and the defence that as Frane is subject to “an indeterminant custodial sentence…we don’t think that a pre-sentence report is necessary.”
Judge Patrick McGurgen agreed and sending Frane back into custody, he adjourned the case for a week for sentence.
Frane, originally from Limerick, was jailed in 2014 after he admitted the manslaughter of Constable Philippa Reynolds following a fatal car crash in Derry in February 2013 while driving a stolen car.
He was ordered to serve at least six years of his indeterminant sentence but the self-confessed killer had been on the run since January after breaching the conditions of a temporary release from jail.
Frane was arrested in the Republic on 1 February 2024 and following proceedings in the south, wasv extradited north.
Constable Reynolds (27) died following a road traffic collision in February 2013 when a stolen Toyota Landcruiser being driven by Frane crashed into her unmarked police car in the Waterside area.