Darren Weldon’s IRA membership conviction appeal allowed

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Darren Weldon’s appeal against his conviction for IRA membership was allowed by the Court of Appeal on 27 June 2018, and the conviction was deemed unsafe.

The case arose from a 2010 car bombing outside Newry courthouse in County Down. The appeal court found that evidence about photographs on Weldon’s phone was factually incorrect and affected the reliability of belief evidence given by a Chief Superintendent.

Weldon had been sentenced by the Special Criminal Court to five years in prison, with 12 months suspended. The Court of Appeal could not determine whether the incorrect evidence was conclusive in the conviction.