By Ronan McSherry

SION Mills murderer Trevor Hamilton (25), who abducted and killed pensioner Attracta Harron, will not be considered for release until the year 2039, when he will be 56-years-old.

Hamilton, who has been in custody since 2004, had the whole life term he received quashed to be replaced with a minimum tariff of 35 years.

However Lord Chief Justice Sir Brian Kerr emphasised in his ruling at the Appeal Court on Friday, he might never be considered suitable for release.

In the 17-page judgement Sir Brian, sitting alongside Lord Justices Campbell and Higgins, concluded, "We wish to emphasise that our decision does not mean that the appellant will be released at the expiry of the minimum term that we have imposed.

"Only if it is concluded by the Parole Commissioners that he no longer represents a danger to the public will his release ever be authorised.

"On the present evidence, there is every prospect that that day will never come."

The Appeal Court in Belfast was packed on Friday morning. Hamilton who still has his hair tightly cropped was wearing a blue t-shirt, denims and a gold chain around his neck.

He sat alongside a prison officer and remained impassive throughout the hearing.

Neither his father nor uncle who attended his trial were present in court while Michael Harron, husband of Attracta, sat in the public gallery beside Chief Inspector John Gilmore who led the investigation into the murder.

The Lord Chief Justice began his judgement by outlining the circumstances of the Mrs Harron's abduction as she walked to her home in Strabane from Mass in Lifford on December 11, 2003.

He told of the effect on her family who became 'increasingly distraught' as they travelled throughout Ireland in search of her.

The judgement read, "The eventual discovery of her decomposed body four months later, secreted in the squalid circumstances has caused them unimaginable grief."

LCJ Kerr also stated that the terror Mrs Harron endured before her death was a case of 'torment uniquely painful' to her family . . . and had a "devastating effect on the entire community."

He agreed with trial Judge Mr Justice McLaughlin that "Hamilton was fully aware he had embarked on a monstrous crime."

The Appeal judges also concurred that Hamilton's motive for abducting the pensioner was sexual and that he took her life in order to silence what he perceived to be the only witness to the crime.

As a teenager Hamilton had previously abducted and raped a woman before threatening to kill her if she told the police.

He served half of a seven year sentence for those offences which bore chilling similarities to the abduction and murder of Mrs Harron.

Before imposing the 35-year-minimum sentence the appeal judge echoed the words of Mr Justice McLaughlin at trial, "What you did to Mrs Harron, a good and loving woman, was at once nauseating and horrifying.

"It was the stuff of nightmares and the epitome of the loss of innocence in our community."

Hamilton spoke briefly to his solicitor before being led away handcuffed to a prison officer.

He will spend at least another 31 years behind bars.