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Man jailed for life for murder of journalist Veronica Guerin moves to have conviction declared a "miscarriage of justice"

Summary

Brian Meehan, 47, serving a life sentence in Portlaoise prison for the 1996 murder of journalist Veronica Guerin, has applied to the Court of Appeal to quash his 1999 conviction on the basis of new evidence. The new evidence concerns facts that emerged during the 2001 Special Criminal Court trial of John Gilligan, who was acquitted of Guerin's murder. Meehan's counsel, Hugh Hartnett SC, argued that the Special Criminal Court had relied solely on the testimony of an "admitted accomplice" and protected witness, Russell Warren, whose credibility was later undermined by a failure to identify him on an identification parade involving witness Marian Finnegan. Hartnett contended that this new fact, unknown to the defence and the court at the time of Meehan's trial, should invalidate the conviction. The Director of Public Prosecutions, Thomas O'Connell SC, opposed the application, asserting that the material was already available to Meehan's lawyers and that the appeal should be dismissed.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Man jailed for life for murder of journalist Veronica Guerin moves to have conviction declared a "miscarriage of justice". Procedural stage: appeal. Findings: Convicted; Acquitted

When:

• July 1999 Hearing Or Sentence
• June 1996 Hearing Or Sentence
• 2015-11-19 Publication

Why: Ms Finnegan's failure to identify him on the identification parade was unknown to the defence, unknown to the court and presumably, he said, unknown to the prosecution because if they had known about it they would have been professionally bound to put if before the court. Prosecution account reported by CNI

Case subjects

Places mentioned

Topics

Stage Appeal Violent Crime

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Read the original CNI report