O'Meally, Application for Reconsideration by, [2025] PBRA 288 (29 December 2025) [2025] PBRA 288

PBRA
O'Meally, Application for Reconsideration by, [2025] PBRA 288 (29 December 2025)
[2025] PBRA 288 · 2025-07-11
[1]This is an application by O'Meally (the applicant) for reconsideration of a decision of the Parole Board (following an oral hearing on 11 th July 2025 which was adjourned to a hearing in October 2025) dated the 22 nd November 2025 not to recommend his transfer to open conditions.[2]Rule 28(1) of the Parole Board Rules 2019 (as amended by the Parole Board (Amendment) Rules 2025) (the Parole Board Rules) provides that applications for reconsideration may be made in eligible cases (as set out in rule 28(2)) either on the basis(a) that the decision contains an error of law,(b) that it is irrational and/or(c) that it is procedurally unfair. This is not an eligible case.

(b) is procedurally unfair Request for Reconsideration

[3]The application for reconsideration is dated 9 th December 2025.[4]The lengthy grounds for seeking a reconsideration focus exclusively on alleged deficiencies in the panel's decision not to recommend open conditions. This, being a decision whether or not to recommend a transfer to open conditions made under Rule 19(2) of the Parole Board Rules 2019 (as amended), is not amenable to the reconsideration procedure. Background[5]The index offences were 9 offences of rape, for which he received life sentences in 2009. Current parole review[6]The applicant is now 67. In June 2024 his case was referred to the Parole Board by the Secretary of State for Justice (the Respondent). Following an oral hearing on 11th July 2025 the panel adjourned the case for additional material to be supplied and the panel reconvened as a paper panel to consider the case on 14 th October 2025. The panel declined to direct the applicant's release or to recommend that he should be transferred to open conditions.[7]On 22 nd December 2025 the Respondent offered no representations to the application. Decision[8]P3 of the DL reads as follows:
" [the Applicant] stated that he was seeking a recommendation for progression to open conditions. Whilst clearly obliged to respond to the full terms of the Secretary of State's referral; the panel agreed to focus its attention upon his application."
[9]The DL and the subsequent appeal therefore concern that decision. 10.This application is therefore not amenable to the reconsideration process. It is therefore dismissed. Sir David Calvert-Smith 29 December 2025