European court rules Barry McArdle’s Dutch manslaughter conviction breached fair-trial rights

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

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Barry McArdle and Kenneth Brunell were denied a fair trial when an Amsterdam appeal court convicted them of manslaughter over Keith Ennis’s killing. It said the appeal court relied on decisive testimony from a key witness without hearing him in person, despite concerns about his credibility.

The court said the appropriate remedy was to reopen their cases. McArdle and Brunell are serving 13-year prison terms in the Netherlands. The ruling concerned the fairness of the proceedings; it did not itself find that the men were innocent.