The letter from Noel Callan . . . who was convicted in 1985 of the murder of Sergeant Patrick Morrissey . . . prompted High Court judge Philip O'Sullivan to grant a judicial review of the case.

Callan, a car dealer from Castleblayney, Co Monaghan . . . along with Michael McHugh from Crossmaglen, Co Armagh . . . was sentenced to death for the capital murder of the garda sergeant. On the advice of Garret FitzGerald's government in 1985, the then president Patrick Hillary commuted the death sentence to a 40-year prison term.

Legal representatives for Callan started their case last week after O'Sullivan saw sufficient legal merit in Callan's correspondence to allow a judicial review on issues surrounding his sentence and detention. Callan's legal team is questioning the right of the president and the government to exercise what are, in effect, judicial functions in determining the length of the prison sentence which was substituted for the death penalty.

A second line of argument in the judicial review is based on the fact that Callan has not been allowed normal remission benefits on his sentence. He has also been prevented from making an application for parole to the sentence review group.

The original case in 1985 heard that Callan and McHugh had stolen £25,000 from the unemployment exchange at Ardee, Co Louth. They fled in the exchange manager's car with Morrissey in pursuit. The garda was shot twice in the grounds of Rathbrist House near Tallanstown.

The court heard there was an interval between the firing of the first shot, which wounded the garda sergeant, and the fatal shot fired by McHugh. A witness said the wounded garda was shot in the face as he lay on the ground.

Callan was convicted by the non-jury Special Criminal Court in 1985. He has already spent 21 years in prison and, unless this appeal is successful, he is unlikely to be freed until 2025 when he will be 61 years of age. He had made a number of previously unsuccessful challenges to his sentence, including in 2003 when the broadcaster and barrister Vincent Browne took his case.

Bernice Morrissey, the widow of Sergeant Patrick Morrissey, has in the past spoken out against any earlyrelease programmes for garda killers. The mother of four children told RTE in 1994 that society needed to be protected from such people. She said the 40-year sentences were, in her view, "non-negotiable".

The outcome of Callan's current judicial review process could have implications for the continued detention of three other men who are currently serving 40-year capital sentences for the murder of gardai.

These include Patrick McCann and Colm O'Shea who were convicted in 1980 for the murders of John Morley and Henry Byrne, two gardai who were shot in their squad car at the scene of a bank robbery in Ballaghadereen, Co Roscommon. The gardai attempted to block McCann and O'Shea escaping after the robbery of £35,000. Four other men serving capital murder sentences qualified for early release under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

The death penalty was abolished in 1964 for all offences other than treason and the capital murder of a member of An Garda Siochana. Legislation was introduced in 1990 abolishing the death penalty in all cases.

A referendum was subsequently passed in 2001 prohibiting the passing of any law providing for the reintroduction of the death penalty. The last execution in the Republic took place in 1954.

The current judicial review case taken by Callan will focus on the right of the government to recommend to the president that the death penalty be replaced with a strict 40-year sentence.

The case which was moved in the High Court last week will be argued in detail . . . with the state opposing Callan . . . early in 2007.