The Court of Appeal has dismissed appeals by Dean Bradley and Jason Bradley against their convictions for the murder of Neil Reilly, finding the jury’s verdicts safe. The court delivered judgment on 10 March 2022.
The brothers were convicted by a jury at the Central Criminal Court on 12 July 2018 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Their appeals challenged several trial rulings, including the admission of eyewitness Danielle Cusack’s evidence, the handling of CCTV footage and jury directions on evidence and defences.
The court rejected the argument that the trial judge should have discharged the jury after changing his ruling on co-accused Ryan Bradley. It said the judge had properly offered Jason Bradley’s counsel an opportunity to address the jury again, and found no unfairness requiring the trial to end. Ryan Bradley was later acquitted by direction; their father, Paul Bradley, was acquitted by the jury.
The brothers also challenged the admission of Cusack’s testimony. The Court of Appeal found that the trial judge had been entitled to admit it, and that inconsistencies between her account and other witnesses’ evidence were for the jury to assess. It acknowledged that a Garda report recording her earlier account had not been disclosed until the trial was under way, but said the defence received it before she testified and the late disclosure did not compromise trial fairness. Cusack’s personal aide memoire had been unknown to the prosecution and was also available to the defence before her evidence.
On the CCTV issue, the court noted that a clip replayed frame by frame had created a misleading impression that a vehicle stopped. The trial judge had said the jury should be told there was no evidence the car stopped or anyone got out. The Court of Appeal nevertheless rejected the appeal ground, concluding that the prosecution did not rely on a stop in its closing and that the appellants had not shown how the episode materially prejudiced their cases.
The court also dismissed challenges to the extensions of the brothers’ detention, saying no evidence gathered during the disputed periods had been put before the jury. It separately rejected Jason Bradley’s challenge to the provocation direction and Dean Bradley’s complaints about directions on the pathologist’s evidence, accident and the possible verdicts.
The ruling leaves both murder convictions and life sentences in place. The court’s decision addressed the appeals and did not order a retrial.