Sean Bourke

Sean Bourke

Sean Aloyisious Bourke was a petty criminal from Limerick. He aided in the prison escape of the British spy George Blake in October 1966. Bourke’s co-conspirators were Michael Randle and Pat Pottle. They were prosecuted in 1991 but the jury found them not guilty.

About Sean Bourke in brief

Summary Sean BourkeSean Aloyisious Bourke was a petty criminal from Limerick. He aided in the prison escape of the British spy George Blake in October 1966. Bourke’s co-conspirators were Michael Randle and Pat Pottle. They were prosecuted in 1991 but the jury found them not guilty. After the escape, Blake eventually made his way to Moscow; Bourke did too, but he eventually returned to Ireland. The United Kingdom tried to have Bourke extradited to face criminal charges, but the Irish Supreme Court rejected this request in 1973. He was never charged since Ireland refused to extradite him to England. An attempt to get him extradited on the separate charge of threatening the life of Detective Constable Michael Sheldon also failed.

After returning to Ireland, Bourke published his book,The Springing of George Blake, an account of the escape. He also wrote a number of articles, including a harrowing account of his time in Daingean reformatory, published in Old Old Journal, Old Limerick Journal, and The Limerick Times. He died in a car crash in Dublin in 1998. He is survived by his wife, two children and a step-daughter. He has a son and two step-granddaughters, who live in the UK and the U.S. and have a daughter and a son-in-law in Ireland, both of whom have died in recent years.