Trio hail quashing of convictions over 1989 attack plot on police football team

By Rebecca Black, PA

The quashing of the “wrongful convictions” of three men in connection with a planned bomb attack on a police football team in 1989 has been hailed.

Declan Murphy, Declan Moen and Conor Gilmore were convicted for possession of explosive substances with intent relating to a bomb which was planted at Limavady Football Club’s ground ahead of a match against the RUC.

On Wednesday the Court of Appeal in Belfast, by a majority verdict, found the convictions dating from 1991 were unsafe following a referral by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).

Two of the three judges found “abuse of process issues” that were “of such a level of deliberate police misconduct to offend the court’s sense of justice and propriety and undermine public confidence in the justice system”.

The third judge found that, while the conduct of the police was “reprehensible”, it was “outweighed by the competing public interest in the prosecution of serious terrorist offences”.

Speaking outside court, Mr Murphy, who serves as a Sinn Féin councillor in Newry, said the overturning of his conviction is a “personal vindication”.

He added it was also a “damning indictment of the British State’s use of its judicial system as a weapon of political repression”.

“Today, after 36 years, the truth has been officially acknowledged,” he said.

“This wasn’t a miscarriage of justice — it was the intended outcome of a rigged system.

“I will not accept today’s decision as closure.

“My case is just one example of hundreds.

“Today’s ruling highlights again the urgency and need for full accountability.”

Solicitor Gavin Booth of Phoenix Law, who acted for the men, welcomed the ruling.

“Our clients approached the CCRC 10 years ago on the basis that their convictions were unsafe,” he said.

“That was endorsed today by the Court of Appeal openly stating that the conduct was reprehensible.

“Today our clients are finally vindicated after fighting this case since 1989.”

A Police Service of Northern Ireland spokesperson said: “We are aware of the appeal court judgment and will take time to study the full judgment and its content when published.”