Killer fined and sister gets suspended sentence after prison visit drug exchange
A convicted murderer has been handed a fine and his sister a suspended jail sentence after a drug exchange during a prison visit.
Thomas Martin Valliday and Ellen Louise Valliday were sentenced at Antrim Crown Court.
Judge Alistair Devlin said the gravity of the case was not the amount of drugs but rather 'that drugs were brought into a supposedly drug-free environment.'
Thomas Valliday (37), who has been in jail since 2008 when he battered and bludgeoned former IRA man Frank 'Bap' McGreevy to death, was handed a £500 fine 'with an immediate warrant' so he will serve seven days in default.
Thomas Valliday
His sister Ellen (31) Valliday, from Conway Street in Belfast, was handed a nine month jail sentence, suspended for two years.
At an earlier hearing, Thomas Valliday entered guilty pleas to having class C prescription-only drugs Pregabalin and Gabapentin on December 18 2019.
Ellen Valliday entered guilty pleas to supplying the class C drugs and conveying 'list A articles' into HMP Magilligan.
Thomas Valliday
News in 90 seconds - 16th June 2025
A second sister, 35-year-old Karen Valliday from the Stewartstown Road, was also due to be sentenced but after she failed to attend court, Judge Devlin issued a warrant for her arrest.
He outlined how the sister had gone to the prison to visit their brother but Ellen Valliday had 'thrown an item' over the barrier between them.
Despite a prison officer's 'commendable efforts' to grab the package, Thomas Valliday 'swiftly' grabbed it and shoved it in his mouth.
While the sisters were detained until police arrived, Thomas Valliday was taken to a separate room.
Warned that he would be subject to a full body search, Valliday conceded 'OK I'll hand it over' and on examination, the package transpired to be a single Pregabalin and a single Gabapentin.
During his sentencing remarks, Judge Devlin said it was clear 'there had been some pre-planning' on the part of the sisters and also that he had to take account of Thomas Valliday's 'significant record,' including the entry for murder.
But the judge said he also had to take cognisance of not only their guilty pleas, but also the 'culpable delay' of more than five years in a case which 'was fairly simple and straightforward.'
Frank 'Bap' McGreevy
Thomas Valliday is coming towards the end of the minimum sentence he received for the murder of Mr McGreevy.
At the end of his trial in February 2010 Valliday was convicted of killing the 51-year-old west Belfast father-of-two.
Valliday was high on a cocktail of drink and drugs when he battered the victim with a variety of weapons including a pick-axe handle in his flat in Ross Street in March 2008.
Imposing a life sentence and ordering Valliday to serve a minimum of 17 years behind bars, Mr Justice Hart said the convicted killer 'has shown no remorse whatever for his crime and I am satisfied that there are no mitigating factors in the case.'
In 2016 Valliday had an extra year added to the sentence after he went on the run for four days after escaping from prison guards at the Ulster Hospital.
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