Five years after a young Scottish airman was convicted of murdering Ms Patricia Curran (19), the daughter of a High Court judge, Sir Lancelot Curran, a leading criminologist said he was not guilty, the Appeal Court in Belfast heard yesterday.
A report was compiled by Dr Desmond Curran (no relation of the victim) after he examined Iain Hay Gordon in Holywell Psychiatric Hospital, Antrim, in April 1957. Mr Gordon was detained there after being found guilty of the murder, but insane.
The 20-year-old RAF national serviceman was stationed near the Curran mansion at Whiteabbey, Co Antrim, when Ms Curran was stabbed to death.
He was released in 1960 and has sought to prove his innocence. He claims he confessed only after police threatened they would tell his mother he was homosexual.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission has referred the case back to court, and the appeal is due to start on October 24th.
In a preliminary hearing yesterday Mr Gordon's lawyer, Sir Louis Blom-Cooper QC, applied to have Dr Curran's report admitted as fresh evidence at the appeal.
Sir Louis said Dr Curran provided very powerful evidence in support of his view that Mr Gordon's confession was false.
The Lord Chief Justice, Sir Robert Carswell, sitting with Mr Justices Kerr and Coghlin, said they would admit the report along with recently compiled reports by three experts.