Businessman wrongly convicted on drugs charges dies

Donegal businessman Frank Shortt has died age 88. Mr Shortt was a victim of a “grave miscarriage of justice” when he was wrongly convicted on drugs charges in 1995.

Mr Shortt died at Letterkenny University Hospital on Thursday, July 13th.

Mr Shortt spent 27 months in jail in the mid-1990s after being wrongly convicted of allowing the sale of drugs at his Co Donegal nightclub. In March 2007, the Supreme Court awarded him increased damages of €4.7 million.

Mr Shortt, a married father of five, of Redcastle, Co Donegal was convicted initially in 1995. His first appeal against his conviction was rejected but after his release in 1998 he pursued the matter and secured a fresh appeal.

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In July 2000, the Court of Criminal Appeal decided that Mr Shortt had been the victim of a miscarriage of justice. It ruled the miscarriage was on grounds of newly discovered facts - the deliberate suppression of material by two gardaí.

The State unreservedly apologised to Mr Shortt in 2006 at the Supreme Court for his wrongful conviction and imprisonment on trumped-up charges, describing what happened as “a grave miscarriage of justice”.

Mr Shortt’s son, Kristian Shortt, announced his father’s death on Friday, saying: “My Father passed away last night, my hero is gone, an 88 year life well lived.”

He added: “My nights around the outdoor fire will never be the same, as I look at your empty chair, missing your stories as we listened to the birds and the crackling of the wood.”

Mr Shortt’s death notice on rip.ie said he would be “deeply missed by his loving wife Sally”, his sons and daughters as well as his “wide circle of family, friends and neighbours”.

Frank Shortt is predeceased by his infant son Kelly Raphael Bosco.

His funeral will take place on Sunday, July 16th.