Courts / Dublin / Report

Jailing of man for violent disorder was miscarriage of justice, court of appeal finds

Date
2023-07-28

Stage
Appeal

Primary locality
Dublin

County
Dublin

Summary

A Dublin man, Declan Tynan, aged 33, spent 11 months in jail after being wrongly identified as one of three men who attacked a customer at a Ladbrokes bookmakers in Tallaght on 13 December 2012. The prosecution's case relied on a single visual identification by a Garda from CCTV footage. Tynan pleaded not guilty, was found guilty by a jury, and sentenced to four years with the final year suspended. He appealed on the grounds of the perils of visual identification, but the Court of Appeal initially upheld the conviction. Later, a third party came forward claiming to be the third attacker, and a UK Met Police evaluation of photographs and stills confirmed Tynan's innocence. In April 2018 the Court of Appeal quashed the conviction under Section 2 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1993.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Jailing of man for violent disorder was miscarriage of justice, court of appeal finds. Procedural stage: appeal

When:

December 13, 2012 Other
January 13, 2017 Hearing Or Sentence
April 2018 Incident
2023-07-28 Publication

Case subjects

Declan Tynan

Defendant

Plea: Not guilty

Outcome: A jury found Mr Tynan guilty and he was sentenced to four years imprisonment with the final year suspended by Judge Patricia Ryan on January 13, 2017.

Met Police

Applicant