'It's good to know justice is alive and kicking still in this country'

"This is absolutely wonderful. It's good to know that justice is alive and kicking still in this country," were Mr Frank Shortt's first words as he emerged yesterday from the Four Courts to a ring of television cameras and microphones.

The Court of Criminal Appeal had just taken five minutes to deliver a historic judgment that declared a miscarriage of justice in the case of the former nightclub owner from Co Donegal.

It was a quick end to a long legal battle for Mr Shortt and his family, which included 16 days of evidence last month, a series of trials, a three-year spell in jail and a later quashing of the conviction that led to his imprisonment.

Mr Shortt insisted he wasn't bitter about his experiences with the gardaí and in jail. "You can't live with bitterness," he reflected. "It's over with now. I don't even feel bitter about the people who put me into prison.

"My wife Sally, myself and my children suffered extensively at the hands of the State over a period of 8 to 10 years, but it's all over with now and we hope to get down to living a quiet life."

His voice quivering and his hands trembling, he recalled he had written a book about his experiences while in prison. "Another chapter will have to be added to it now."

As for the gardaí, Mr Shortt felt they were just "doing a job. Just because there were one or two rotten apples doesn't mean you can condemn the whole force.

"We're lucky in this country that we do have, by and large, a pretty decent bunch of policemen."

But asked whether he was happy with the action taken by the force to root out the "bad apples", he replied with an emphatic "No".

"I don't believe they have done their job properly. It's up to the DPP and the Minister for Justice to take the appropriate action against the people whom they perceive were the cause of all this trouble. After all, what was done by a handful of gardaí didn't do the force any good."

A reporter wanted to know what he thought of the Garda Síochána now. "Well, he won't be joining them anyway," his wife Sally joked.

Asked about his possible involvement in the Morris Tribunal, which is enquiring into complaints against some gardaí in the Donegal Division, Mr Shortt said he'd "had enough" of court hearings for now. It was a matter for Mr Justice Morris to decide, he added.

Mr Shortt's lawyers will now prepare a compensation claim. As for their client, he delivered a final word of praise for the "magnificent" judges who heard his case. "Now I'm going to get a life," he declared, before leaving the courts in the company of Sally and his children Azariah and Jalisco.