Sailor's family react angrily to 5-year jail term for killer

The family of Mr Brian Gorey, the 21-year-old sailor who drowned after he was thrown overboard the LE Eithne, reacted with anger yesterday after his killer received a five-year jail sentence.

It also emerged in court yesterday that two months after Mr Gorey's death, Mr Lundon assaulted a man in Tipperary Town, causing him serious harm.

He pleaded guilty to charges of assault and assault causing harm and awaits sentencing in Clonmel Circuit Court.

Speaking outside the Four Courts following the sentencing, Mr Gorey's father Michael said he was disappointed at the sentence and would never accept an apology from his son's killer.

"At the end of the day if taking a life is only worth five years, there's going to be a lot more killings in the country," Mr Gorey said.

"I'll tell you one thing, Brian is 10 times the man that they put inside there today. Ten times the man. Brian was top-class, he never harmed no one in his life."

Mr Michael Gorey also called on the Minister for Defence to investigate why Mr Lundon had not been discharged from the Defence Forces after he was convicted of manslaughter.

"He should have been thrown out of the Defence Forces, he has been paid more than €40,000 of taxpayers' money."

Mr Gorey told the court his family had been destroyed by the loss of their son, who he described as "a perfect gentleman", who loved the Navy.

It also emerged yesterday that the Naval Service has established an internal court of inquiry to investigate the circumstances aboard the LE Eithne which led to the death of Mr Gorey.

It is expected to examine a range of issues, such as the availability of quantities of alcohol after hours aboard the vessel and whether there was effective monitoring of activities on the ship while docked at John Rogerson's Quay in Dublin in April 2001.