Convicted killer poses for selfie behind bars in Dublin prison as probe looks into how he got phone

Exclusive: Sources confirmed that Dean Kerrie was issued with a P19 sanction for possession of the phone – after this photo appeared on social media featuring him and a number of other prisoners posing for a selfie inside a cell in Dublin’s Wheatfield Prison.

A convicted killer has been sanctioned by prison authorities after a phone was discovered in his cell – following a social media ‘selfie.’

The Mirror has learned that Dean Kerrie (21), who is serving a three and a half year prison sentence for stabbing and killing Jack Power in Dunmore East, Co Waterford in 2018, was caught with the phone in the last number of weeks.

Sources confirmed that Kerrie was issued with a P19 sanction for possession of the phone -after this photo appeared on social media featuring him and a number of other prisoners posing for a selfie inside a cell in Dublin’s Wheatfield Prison.

The photo, in which Kerrie is front in centre, features the caption “Up Wheatfield east 3 killers” and was posted to social media site ‘Snapchat’ in January.

In general however the IPS have stated that preventing access of contraband “will always remain a high priority,” and in a recent statement said that there has been an increase in certain types of incidents of this nature.

“We have seen an increase in the number of “throw overs” i.e.contacts on the outside attempting to throw mobile phones and drugs into exercise yards.

“Due to the regimes currently in operation in our prisons, prison staff have been able to identify and intercept many of these “throw overs “ensuring they do not reach the prison population,” the IPS said.

Staff have also carried out random and “intelligence led cell searches” on a daily basis.

Authorities within the Irish Prison Service were then made aware of its presence and an investigation and subsequent search was carried out in Kerrie’s cell in which a phone was then discovered.