Michael Furlong wins no murder retrial in High Court

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

Michael Furlong, charged with murdering Patrick Connors, had a retrial prohibited by the High Court on 6 May 2015.

The case concerned the death of Patrick Connors at the Carraig Tur apartment complex in Enniscorthy, Wexford, in April 2011. Furlong’s original trial collapsed in November 2013 after a dispute about evidence from Dr Khalid Jaber, a former deputy State pathologist.

The jury was discharged after State Pathologist Marie Cassidy raised concerns about Dr Jaber’s evidence, including his opinion on the mechanism of death. The prosecution then accepted it could no longer rely on that evidence and listed the case for retrial with an English forensic pathologist.

Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns granted Furlong’s prohibition application, finding that the difficulties surrounding the pathology evidence could not be addressed or resolved in a retrial. Dr Jaber rejected suggestions that the injuries were self-inflicted or caused by a fall, while a defence doctor attributed the death to blood loss, intoxication and hypothermia. The proceedings were reported on 7 May 2015.