THE wife of a man convicted of murder on the evidence of loyalist gun-runner Lindsay Robb was disappointed yesterday after judges failed to fix a date for his appeal.

"I thought that we would get a provisional date at least," said Colin Duffy's wife Susan, from Lurgan, as she left the Court of Appeal in Belfast.

"Now we will have to wait another month to know what is going to happen."

A Crown lawyer told the court that he had "just obtained" a transcript of the trial in Scotland at which Robb was found guilty of gun-running for the UVF and given a 10 year sentence.

Robb was convicted after giving evidence from behind screens identifying Duffy as the killer of retired UDR soldier John Lyness.

The lawyer added. "There are other documents which have taken time to obtain and instructions in relation to them have still to be received from other interested parties."

It is understood that he was referring to the possibility of an application by the Crown to keep the documents secret under a Public Interest Immunity Certificate.

The Lord Chief Justice, Sir Brian Hutton, directed that the appeal should be stood over until June 21st to be listed for hearing after the summer recess.

As Mrs Duffy left the court with relatives and friends she said. "We know Colin is innocent and this is just prolonging the agony for him and everyone else.

"Colin was convicted last July but when you include the time he was in custody awaiting trial he will soon have spent three years in prison for a crime he did not commit."