THE European Court ruling that a convicted prisoner was improperly denied access to a solicitor for 48 hours could cause a rush of similar appeals, according to a Northern Ireland civil liberties group.
The Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) estimates that some 100 prisoners in Northern Ireland could pursue cases against their convictions based on yesterday's ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.
Mr Paul Mageean, legal officer of the CAJ, said the decision would have implications for many prisoners denied access to legal advice during the initial 48 hours of their detention. "I imagine that a large number of people will be keen to pursue their cases in the light of this judgment."
The British government said it would have to study the judgment relating to access to solicitors before it could comment. A Northern Ireland Office spokeswoman, however, welcomed the element of the judgment which accepted the right of a court to draw adverse inference from the silence of an accused person.
She was not in a position to say if the British government would now amend the Emergency Provisions Act to allow solicitors access to clients from the outset of formal police interviews.
Mr Alban Maginness, an SDLP councillor and lawyer, said the ruling could lead the Court of Appeal in Belfast to review and possibly quash the original conviction of the successful European Court applicant, Mr John Murray, for his part in the abduction of an alleged IRA informer, Mr Sandy Lynch, in 1990.
"It could well open the gates for other applicants to appeal as well against their convictions," Mr Maginness added.
The Ulster Unionist Party and the DUP were highly critical of the ruling. The Rev Martin Smyth, an Ulster Unionists Party MP, said it struck him as "something of an abomination" that Mr Murray should be awarded £15,000 in legal costs when a member of his congregation, who lost a husband in an IRA bombing, was only offered £1,500.
Mr Peter Robinson, the DUP deputy leader, said: "It is crazy that a terrorist who illegally denied access to his falsely imprisoned victim is compensated because, legally access is denied to his solicitor.
Mr Barry McElduff, Sinn Fein's justice spokesman, said the European Court ruling marked a significant victory for Mr Murray. It raised serious questions about the legality of other convictions.
Ms Mary Clark Glass, of the Alliance Party, said the decision re emphasised the need for an urgent review of the North's emergency legislation.
Mr John Murray, on whose behalf the case was taken, said he was "over the moon". He would meet his solicitor to consider appealing the original conviction to the Court of Appeal.
Mr Michael Lavery QC, chairman of the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights, welcomed the judgment.
