The Court of Appeal has dismissed Mark Nash’s appeal against his 2015 convictions for the murders of Sylvia Shields and Mary Callinan, concluding that none of his appeal grounds succeeded.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Mahon on 8 May 2018, reviewed a four-month Central Criminal Court trial. Nash was convicted of murdering the two women at their home in Orchard View, Grangegorman, Dublin, on 7 March 1997, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The appeal court did not disturb those convictions or sentences.
Nash argued that statements he made to gardaí in August 1997 should have been excluded because his detention was unlawful and his solicitor was not present during questioning about the murders. The court upheld the trial judge’s rulings that his continued detention was lawful and that Nash had access to a solicitor before making the Grangegorman admissions. It noted that the first mention of those murders to gardaí came after Nash had consulted his solicitor, who told them Nash wished to admit involvement.
The appeal also focused on DNA profiles from both victims found on Nash’s black velvet jacket. The court acknowledged that the DNA’s source and the time it reached the jacket could not be determined, and that experts disagreed about the risk of contamination during forensic examination. It held that the competing expert evidence was for the jury to assess and was not so weak that the case should have been withdrawn from them. The appeal court found no error in the trial judge’s refusal to stop the case or direct an acquittal on that basis.
Nash also challenged the admission of evidence, alleged late disclosure, the handling of a juror who had applied to join An Garda Síochána, and the judge’s directions to the jury. The appeal court rejected those grounds, finding no demonstrated unfairness or error requiring the convictions to be set aside.
The judgment noted that Dean Lyons had previously confessed to the murders, but that the charges against him were withdrawn in 1998 after gardaí concluded he was not involved. Nash also made admissions before later retracting them. The appeal court dismissed the appeal in full.