William Moran convicted of murder as appeal challenges Facebook evidence

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

William Moran was convicted of murder at the Central Criminal Court and given a mandatory life sentence, reported on 24 January 2018. The conviction concerned Martin Brophy’s death at an old Waterford Institute of Technology building between 19 and 21 May 2012.

Opening Moran’s appeal, his barrister argued that damaging Facebook messages were not sufficiently proven to have come from Moran. Counsel said the messages required evidence about how Facebook generated, retrieved and authenticated them.

The prosecution said there was evidence suggesting Moran authored the message and that the records obtained from Facebook were reliable. The Court of Appeal reserved its judgment.