Appeal against conviction for murder rejected

The Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday praised the "excellent police work" which led to the conviction of a Limerick man for the "appalling murder" of a 68-year-old bachelor who was found barely conscious, partially dressed, doused in flammable liquid and hanging from the banisters in his ransacked home in Co Clare.

Mr Padraig (Paud) Skehan spent three weeks in intensive care in hospital before he died as a result of what Mr Paul Coffey SC, for the DPP, described yesterday as "an assault of unusual and gratuitous barbarity".

The three-judge court, presided over by the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Keane, sitting with Mr Justice Kelly and Mr Justice Abbott, yesterday dismissed the appeal by William Campion against his conviction for the murder of Mr Skehan and burglary at his home. It also declined to reduce the nine-year sentence imposed for burglary.

Dismissing the appeal, Mr Justice Keane said the court wished to say that the conduct of the Garda investigation in the case "merited the highest praise".

Campion (35), formerly with an address in Moyross, Limerick, was convicted at the Central Criminal Court in March 2000 of the murder of Mr Skehan and of burglary of Mr Skehan's home at O'Brien's Bridge, Co Clare, in April 1998. He was jailed for life on the murder count and given nine years for burglary.

The trial heard that, on the night of April 9th, 1998, Mr Skehan was seen by a neighbour in his home and nothing was wrong.

The following day, the same neighbour saw Mr Skehan's jeep about 1½ miles from Mr Skehan's home and became concerned. He went into Mr Skehan's home and found him trussed to the banisters, barely conscious, partially dressed and smelling of some form of flammable material. The house was in disarray and there was blood on the floorboards. Mr Skehan was taken to hospital and died there three weeks later.

Four days after Mr Skehan was found in his home, Campion was arrested by gardaí in relation to another charge of allegedly causing criminal damage to a Garda car in a "ramming" incident. While in custody in Ennis Garda station, he was asked for his clothes and footwear and handed these over.

Forensic analysis later established that a foot drag mark identified on floorboards in Mr Skehan's home following the assault on him had been made by the Fila trainers obtained by the gardaí from Campion, and Campion was arrested and charged with the murder of Mr Skehan.

Presenting Campion's appeal yesterday, Mr Martin Giblin SC advanced a number of grounds of appeal, the central one being that the trial judge had erred in admitting evidence of the footprint. He argued that the custody record failed to indicate that the clothing and footwear had been taken from Campion.

Dismissing the appeal, Mr Justice Keane said that the Treatment of Persons in Custody Regulations contained no requirement to record that clothing had been taken from a person. In these circumstances, Campion had been asked for the clothing by a garda and had agreed to give it, although he had later stated that he felt he had no choice.

The court rejected arguments that the verdict of the jury was perverse and against the weight of the evidence. It held that the jury was entitled to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the presence of the drag mark indicated that Campion had been in Mr Skehan's house on the night of the assault and had been involved in the murderous assault.

The jury had also heard evidence from another man that Campion had asked that man to say that he had exchanged trainers with Campion.