One of the State’s longest-serving prisoners has died.
Ian Watson (71) spent more than 41 years in jail for the murder of schoolboy Conor McCabe in Arklow, Co Wicklow.
Watson admitted murdering Conor between April 12th and 15th, 1984, and was sentenced to life in prison in November that year.
Conor’s death provoked anger in Arklow. Watson had to be protected from a crowd who tried to kick and punch him before his first court appearance.
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At the time, the Scottish man, who had come to live in Ireland, was divorced and unemployed. He had an address at Ferrybank, Arklow.
As he pleaded guilty, no evidence was heard during the case. Judge Seamus Egan said penal servitude for life was the only sentence he could impose.
Penal servitude remained the term in use in Irish law until its formal abolition in 1997, though the system had already moved away from the “hard labour” component of the sentence decades before.
Watson was diagnosed with stage-four cancer late last year and was given months to live.
He died on February 10th in the Midlands Prison, a medium-security prison next to the maximum-security Portlaoise Prison, Co Laois.
“All deaths in custody are investigated by the Irish Prison Service, the inspector of prisons and An Garda Síochána, where circumstances warrant. The cause of death is determined by the coroner’s office,” the Irish Prison Service said.
