US man jailed for using names of deceased babies to obtain Irish passports is deported

Sunday World

24-04-2025

Randolph Kirk Parker served 20 months in Cork Prison before he was flown to America
An American man using false passports in the names of dead Irish children has been deported
An American man who lived in Ireland for over 30 years using false identity documents in the names of two dead Irish children has been deported back to the US.
'International man of mystery' Randolph Kirk Parker (74) was flown from Dublin to Chicago last week.
He was taken from Cork Prison by officers from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI) who escorted him on the flight and handed him over to US immigration officials.
Parker served 20 months of a 27-month sentence after pleading guilty last year to five charges of obtaining Irish passports and a driver's licence in false names.
The documents were in the names of Geoffrey Warbrook and Philip Morris, two Irish babies who died in Cork and Dublin in 1952.
Last December, the Department of Justice informed Parker that the justice minister had instructed his deportation on the grounds that he had 'remained in the State' in breach of the Immigration Act of 1999.
In the letter sent to Parker by the Department's Repatriation Division, he was informed that gardaí would enforce the deportation order upon completion of his prison sentence.
'The deportation order requires you leave the State and to remain outside the State thereafter, and will take effect from midnight tonight,' the letter stated.
Parker made strenuous efforts not to be sent back to his home country.
Randolph Kirk Parker used names of infants who died in 1950s to obtain passports. Photo: Getty
It is understood he contacted the US embassy and applied for a legitimate passport. The embassy refused and would only issue him with a temporary travel document that would get him home.
Despite the fact that he refused to reveal anything about his life or why he had used false identities to obtain passports, Parker appealed the deportation order, which was turned down.
In the event that he obtained a US passport, Parker said he wanted to make his own arrangements to voluntarily leave the State and go to a 'destination of my choice'.
Security sources have revealed they suspect that Parker was 'possibly working for some sort of spy agency or a body involved in espionage'.
Everything about how he operated suggests someone who is involved in international intrigue
'He was and is definitely running from something or was involved in something that he is afraid to divulge,' one source said.
'Everything about how he operated using false identities suggests someone who is involved in international intrigue.
'The suspicion in the security field is that Parker was possibly working for some state-sponsored spy agency.
'From extensive international enquiries, there is no evidence to suggest that he was in a witness protection programme either.'
Randolph Kirk Parker was flown out of Ireland. File photo: Provision
Parker's secret life was exposed when detectives from NBCI arrested him at the Cork Passport Office when he turned up to collect a passport in the name of Philip Francis Morris in September 2023.
The American had been on a watch-list since 2017 after the Passport Services Integrity Section, using facial recognition technology, found a match for a Geoffrey Warbrook, issued with a renewal passport in 2012 and with an address in Dublin.
A number of passports had also been issued since 1998 to a Philip Morris with an address in west Cork.
Parker served 20 months in Cork Prison
When NBCI was informed, it could not find a trace of a Geoffrey Warbrook or a Philip Morris in the State.
The breakthrough came when Parker applied to renew the Philip Morris passport.
When he was arrested, Parker was described as affable and articulate, but he refused to answer any questions or co-operate in any way.
It is understood he even refused to reveal his past to his lawyers.
Security sources have said 'cruising graveyards' to establish false identities by picking out names on headstones is a well-known practice among spies.
Last April, Parker pleaded guilty to five counts of obtaining passports and a driver's licence.
Sentencing Parker, Judge Jonathan Dunphy said he was taking into consideration that Parker's actions 'challenged and threatened the integrity of the passport system', as well as his lack of co-operation with investigating gardaí.
One of the arresting officers, Detective Garda Padraic Hanley of the NBCI, told the court that initially they believed Parker's name was Philip Morris.
The same man had applied from Amsterdam on June 7, 2022 to renew a passport in the name of Geoffrey Warbrook, which had sparked an investigation.