After 32 years in prison, murderer James Patrick Earley refuses parole because he’s facing deportation

One of SA’s longest-serving convicted killers is refusing to accept parole despite spending decades in prison.

One of the state’s longest-serving prisoners is refusing to accept parole and be released from prison because he will immediately be deported to Ireland.

Convicted murderer James Patrick Earley – who has been in prison for all but three weeks of the past 32 years – has asked Attorney-General Vickie Chapman to intervene and facilitate funding to enable him to challenge his deportation order.

Earley, who is now 59, fears that unless he receives help to overturn the deportation decision in the Federal Court, he “will die here in prison”.

“I now face an indeterminable amount of time in prison. If I accept parole, I will be deported to Ireland, a place where I have no known support network,’’ he states in a letter to Ms Chapman obtained by The Advertiser.

“I still have not received adequate treatment to prepare for a successful reintegration into the community, whether that be here in Australia or abroad in Ireland – I expect problems reintegrating and therefore do not intend to accept parole.

“As the law stands, I will spend the rest of my life here.”

Earley estimates he will spend “45 to 60 years in prison’’ unless there is legal intervention to overturn the decision to cancel his visa and he “will die in prison”.

The Legal Services Commission has refused Earley’s request for funding and he is seeking Ms Chapman’s intervention “on humanitarian grounds”.

Ms Chapman said she had responded to Earley’s letter “outlining the options available to him,” but would not comment further because it was private correspondence.

However, it is understood Earley’s request for her intervention was declined.

The news report on James Earley from July 5, 1989.

Parole Board chairwoman Frances Nelson QC said she had “some sympathy” for Earley.

While she believed he was suitable for release in Adelaide, Ms Nelson did not believe Earley “could survive” if released into an environment where he had no family support, no shelter and was not eligible for any kind of pension to survive on.

“The Parole Board sees this as a dilemma. It would be quite cruel to release him in that situation,” she said.

“A lot of parolees have been deported, but they have family to assist them where they are going. His situation is quite different.”

Ms Nelson said she had been liaising with parole authorities in the United Kingdom about Earley’s situation, but they have been unable to assist.

Earley, who is being held in Mobilong Prison, was convicted of murder in 1991 and given a life sentence with a non-parole period of 18 years, backdated to 1989 when he was arrested.

In 1989 Earley killed Mark Charles Scott, 26, with a shotgun blast during a domestic incident at Gawler. He also fired shots at another man who was fleeing the scene in a vehicle. He surrendered to police after 10 days on the run.

Mark Scott, who was murdered by James Patrick Earley in shooting incident at Gawler in 1989.

In 1991 and 1994 he committed further offences in prison and had another five years added to his non-parole period. When truth in sentencing legislation was introduced in 1994 his non-parole period was recalculated at 14 years and eight months, making him eligible for release in 2003.

In his letter to Ms Chapman requesting assistance, he states this was “a turning point for me’’ and he modified his behaviour.

“My behaviour and attitude to the law up to that point was appalling, both in the community and in prison,’’ he states.

“The idea that remissions were provided in advance was to me an act of goodwill by the state and that caused my change in behaviour and attitude.’’

Earley says he was not involved in any further violent incidents in prison and in 2003 applied for parole when he became eligible.

While the Parole Board recommended his release in 2003, its decision then needed to be ratified by executive council. Despite his release being approved by the board, it was rejected by executive council three years later without explanation.

He states he applied, and was rejected, on several occasions over the next nine years until his release was finally approved in 2013. When advised he was being transferred to the Adelaide Pre-release Centre for five weeks of resocialisation prior to being released, Earley says he requested his parole be delayed to enable him to spend more time at the APC to prepare him for life in the community but this was refused.

When released he was placed in accommodation organised by Offenders Aid Rehabilitation opposite the Bombay Bicycle Club at Ovingham.

“I lasted just three weeks before an incident occurred outside my house in which a large group of drunk revellers were urinating on my car and subsequently, I chased them away with a cheese knife,’’ he states.

As a result his parole was cancelled and he was re-sentenced and became eligible for release the following year. His application in 2014 was deferred because of pending amendments to parole legislation that would abolish executive council’s right to veto Parole Board decisions.

In 2017 while Earley was awaiting a decision from the Parole Board he was formally advised his Australian visa was being cancelled because an amendment to the Migration Act that allows non-citizens deemed to be of “bad character” or who have served a prison sentence of more than one year to be deported.

While his release on parole was finally approved by the Parole Board in 2018, it has been deferred on humanitarian grounds and he has vowed not to accept it if he will be deported.

Originally published as After 32 years in prison, murderer James Patrick Earley refuses parole because he’s facing deportation