Former court clerk fails in appeal against conviction for threatening to kill

A former court clerk has lost his appeal against conviction for threatening to kill a man in Buncrana, County Donegal. Ciaran Waldron, aged 59, of Riverview, Buncrana, was convicted in 2011 at Letterkenny Circuit Criminal Court of making a threat to kill following an incident on 7 August 2006. Waldron had discovered his estranged wife in a car with another man and was acquitted of reckless endangerment but found guilty of the threat offence by jury. He was fined €1,000. At the Court of Appeal, Waldron challenged his conviction on two grounds, including an alleged error in the trial judge's direction to the jury regarding the threat charge. The court, presided over by Mr Justice George Birmingham alongside two fellow judges, dismissed the appeal. Mr Justice Birmingham found the defence counsel had expressed satisfaction with the direction at trial and could not now raise it as grounds for appeal. The Director of Public Prosecutions withdrew an application for sentence review following queries from the bench.