LAST UPDATE | 12 hrs ago

A CONVICTED MURDERER who absconded from Derry last week and has been on the run since has been arrested in Donegal, the PSNI has confirmed. 

Gary Anderson (29) was convicted alongside his brother Sean Anderson for the 2018 murder of Karol Kelly in Derry.

Father-of-five Kelly was stabbed several times in the attack.

In 2023, Gary Anderson was sentenced to 15 years in prison for murder.

On 14 September, he was on day release from prison to attend his father’s funeral, but failed to return. 

In a statement this afternoon, the PSNI said Anderson was arrested by gardaí in a property in the Buncrana area in Co Donegal shortly before 2pm today.

Police in the North had been liaising with gardaí as part of efforts to locate Anderson. 

“I want to thank everyone who assisted with our enquiries since our public appeal last Monday,” PSNI Detective Inspector Gareth Lavery said.

“Our officers conducted extensive enquiries during this investigation to locate Gary Anderson, and we thank everyone for their help and cooperation.

He also thanked gardaí, in particular those who arrested Anderson today, for “all of their help with this investigation over the last week”. 

“PSNI is now working with relevant authorities in order to return Gary Anderson to custody, and we will provide an update in due course.”

MP for Foyle, SDLP’s Colum Eastwood, welcomed Anderson’s arrest, but said his escaped highlighted “inadequacies” in the prison and justice system.

“Significant questions remain about the process around this and while I appreciate that the Justice Minister has already ordered an independent review into what happened, confidence has been damaged in the institutions involved,” the MP said.

Eastwood said his thoughts are with the family of Karol Kelly who have been through a “horrendous ordeal” over the past week.

“I hope this provides comfort to the Kelly family who have conducted themselves with such dignity and should never have had to deal with this.”

Earlier this week, Northern Ireland justice minister Naomi Long apologised to the family of Karol Kelly over the matter. 

She ordered an independent review to probe the sequence of events which saw Anderson granted temporary release and then fail to return to prison.

Both Gary Anderson and his brother Sean Anderson had applications for temporary compassionate leave to attend their father’s funeral turned down by prison authorities.

Those decisions were then challenged in the courts, and while the decision to refuse leave to Sean Anderson was upheld, the court ordered that Gary Anderson could be temporarily released with conditions attached.

Referring to a number of issues, including around communication, Long said it is important that the review is independent and undertaken by someone outside Northern Ireland Prison Service and her department.

“They can look at all of the information and hopefully come up with recommendations to ensure that we see no repetition.”

She said Karol Kelly’s family have been “subject to trauma and distress as a result of Anderson’s release and escape”.

“They’re at the forefront of my mind, and if they are willing I want to meet with them personally to apologise, I think that is the least as minister that I owe them,” she said.

“There is also the wider issue of public safety which has been compromised by his escape, and whilst no decision is responsible for his behaviour, it contributed to it and that causes me real concern.”

With reporting from Press Association