CAREER CRIMINAL | 

Charges against gangland boss James Carlisle withdrawn after he takes own life in prison

A raft of domestic violence charges against the career criminal, including attempted murder, have been formally withdrawn

Yesterday at 14:00

A raft of domestic violence charges against career criminal James Carlisle, including attempted murder, have been formally withdrawn after he died in prison.

During a 10-second mention of the case at Newry Magistrates’ Court today, a prosecution lawyer made a formal application to withdraw the case against Carlisle (42), as “he is now deceased”, which was granted by District Judge Eamon King.

Carlisle, originally from Lurgan but who had recently been living on the Harbour Road in Kilkeel, died last Friday.

He had been on remand for the attempted murder of his partner while awaiting sentence for a shocking attack on another woman.

Two weeks ago, Carlisle was remanded into custody accused of attempting to murder his partner after he set her chest and neck on fire with lighter fluid.

He was also awaiting sentence in September for grievous bodily harm, after he “beat the life” out of a woman over a supposed drug debt, shattering her face and leaving her blind in one eye.

He had entered guilty pleas to inflicting grievous bodily harm, one count of common assault, possessing a weapon — namely a knife — and attempted intimidation arising from events on October 28, 2021.

The first incident that day was at the woman’s home in Portadown when Carlisle, who was armed with a knife, called looking for her cousin over a debt. However, with the cousin not present, Carlisle told the woman that if she made a report to police he would “murder her whole family” and “burn her house down”.

Later that day, the woman went to her cousin’s house at Enniskeen, Craigavon, and it was while she was there that, according to a detective, Carlisle “beat the life out of her”.

According to the complainant, Carlisle repeatedly hit her about the head and body, leaving her blind in one eye and with a fractured cheekbone which required surgery to fit a metal plate.

In relation to the most recent case, Carlisle was charged with attempted murder, inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, causing actual bodily harm and common assault, all said to be aggravated by domestic abuse committed on June 30 this year.

He was also charged with intimidating a man and woman who witnessed the first attack, making a gun gesture and telling them to “Google me”.

They had seen Carlisle dragging his girlfriend out of a car and punching her about the head, but when the police arrived he fled the scene in her car.

Later that evening, police were back at the house to arrest Carlisle. When they arrived, the door was open and they could hear the victim screaming inside.

When officers entered, they found her covered in blood and with significant burns about her neck and chest after Carlisle had poured lighter fluid over her and lit it.

Carlisle was one of the henchmen of the murdered Malcolm McKeown and, although both cases were dropped in the end, they were both accused of the murders of Hugh and Jacqueline McGeough.

They were gunned down at their Legahory Court home in Craigavon in March 2011 over an alleged drug feud.

Charges were dropped in 2013, but in 2018 Carlisle and McKeown were co-accused over an aggravated burglary whereby, according to the Crown case, they broke into a house on the Beanstown Road in Lisburn, tied up the householder and beat him up.

The pair allegedly ransacked his home before fleeing with a box of jewellery.

Carlisle was allegedly linked to the incident by DNA uncovered on a high-vis vest; however, charges were dropped in October 2019, a few weeks after McKeown was murdered.

Carlisle survived an assassination attempt outside a school in 2016.

He had been sitting in a car outside St Brendan’s Primary School in Craigavon when he was shot several times.