An application by convicted murderer Catherine Nevin aimed at having her conviction declared a miscarriage of justice has been adjourned at the Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) to allow the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) consider his approach to the case.
The DPP has also proposed that the appeal court should determine whether Nevin has made out a good legal basis for her proceedings. Nevin has initiated proceedings in which she is arguing that material not given to her lawyers at the time of her trial contains information casting doubt on the credibility and motivation of key prosecution witnesses in the case.
An appeal against her conviction was dismissed in 2003 by the CCA but Nevin has now brought proceedings under the Crime Procedure Act 1993 to have her case declared a miscarriage of justice.
In a case management list in the CCA yesterday, Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman heard that the DPP required some time to consider the application being made by Nevin. Seán Gillane BL, for the DPP, said some of the applications were "unusual" and the DPP would be asking the court to determine whether there was a prima facie case to be made out.
Nevin's lawyers contend that the documents, including Garda security files on witnesses Gerry Heapes, John Jones and William McClean, are relevant and would assist her in undermining their credibility and might also be relevant to the credibility of another State witness, Patrick Russell.
The material, the defence alleges, includes security files indicating that Mr McClean was a suspect in the Dublin/Monaghan bombings of 1974. Nevin claims that Mr McClean had during the trial denied that he had any paramilitary connections but that a Garda Special Branch file going back to 1974 would have an effect on his credibility in that regard.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Hardiman said it appeared that the application is based on the contents of the Barron report on the Dublin/Monaghan bombings and on information from what was described as "a high-level journalist". He said the issue of whether the information should be disclosed to the defence had been considered by the trial judge but had ruled it was either privileged or not relevant and therefore should not be disclosed.
Mr Justice Hardiman adjourned the case to March 3rd.
Nevin (55) was sentenced to life in April 2000 for the murder of her husband, Tom, at their pub, Jack White's Inn, Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow, on March 19th, 1996.