THREE men were cleared yesterday of the sectarian murder of a 26 year old Catholic mother who was strangled by loyalists in east Belfast five years ago.
Mother of two Ms Ann Marie Smyth, from Armagh, was lured to her death by Protestant "friends" after they discovered her religion. When her body was found on waste ground in February 1992, her throat had been cut.
The judgment was in the Appeal Court in Belfast. Three of the five men convicted of the 1992 murder of Ms Smyth were acquitted.
The three acquitted of the murder were Stephen Manners (33), of Woodstock House; David Magee (26), of Pearl Street, and Philip Murray (30), of Kingswood Street, all in east Belfast.
However, all three were guilty on their own admissions of assisting others after the murder. Manners was sentenced to 10 years in jail, the other two to eight years.
But they are expected to be pleased shortly when remission is taken into account.
The three appeal judges were in no doubt as to the guilt of the other two appellants, Graham Carlo Bingham (25), of Carmeen Drive, Rathcoole, and Samuel Cooke (29), of Cregagh Street, Belfast.