Courts / Wicklow / Report
Catherine Nevin's Supreme Court bid dismissed
Summary
The Supreme Court has dismissed Catherine Nevin's bid to appeal her conviction for murdering her husband, Tom Nevin, at Jack White's Inn near Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow, in 1996. Nevin, a 61-year-old who has always denied involvement, was jailed for life in 2000 and received a concurrent seven-year sentence for soliciting William McClean, Gerry Heapes, and John Jones to kill her husband in 1989 and 1990. Having previously lost an appeal in 2003 and a miscarriage of justice application in 2010, Nevin argued that the Court of Criminal Appeal incorrectly applied the rule against the contradiction of collateral matters regarding witness credibility. Her legal team contended that undisclosed garda "Suspect Antecedent History" forms, later revealed by journalist Niamh O'Connor, should have been available to the defence at trial. Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman, presiding, rejected this argument as a "fundamental and pretty radical misconception." He stated that the forms were not evidence but working papers, and that the disclosure via a newspaper leak did not entitle the defence to them retrospectively. The Court found the application contained "absolutely no points of any merit whatsoever" and dismissed it, noting the case had been entertained at "patient and perhaps excessive length."
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: Catherine Nevin's Supreme Court bid dismissed. Procedural stage: appeal
When:
- March 19 1996 Other
- 1989 and 1990 Other
- 2014-07-07 Publication
Why: He said the court had become "intimately familiar with these forms because they had examined 140 of them when ruling on the miscarriage of justice application. CNI source report
Case subjects
Appellant
Outcome: In 2000 Nevin was jailed for life having been convicted of murdering her husband Tom Nevin at their pub, Jack White's Inn, near Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow, on March 19 1996. The court heard that a suspect history form relating to Mr McClean was only brought to the attention of the defence by a newspaper article, published by reporter Niamh O'Connor 8 years after Nevin was jailed for life.
Places mentioned
Topics
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