Dundalk man Dermot McArdle has lodged an appeal against his conviction and two-year-jail sentence for killing his wife.
McArdle was convicted in early October by a jury of causing the death of his wife, who fell from a Marbella hotel balcony while on a family holiday in February 2000. He was given a two-year jail term by judge Fernando González Zubieta in Málaga’s Criminal Court.
The father-of-two has asked appeal court judges in Spain to absolve him of manslaughter or order a retrial.
Judges are expected to take up to five months to rule on McArdle’s appeal and submissions opposing the appeal being prepared by a Spanish state prosecutor and Ms Corcoran’s family lawyer Hector Gonzalez.
Mr Gonzalez confirmed today the 39-year-old, from Haggardstown, Dundalk, Co Louth, was appealing. He said: “McArdle’s lawyer is asking for the absolution of his client - and failing that a retrial in front of another jury.
“We will be making a written submission arguing there is no legal basis for this appeal and although anything is possible, I am confident it will be turned down.
“But it will be several months before we know the outcome.
McArdle’s lawyer Luis Casaubon has asked judges at a regional appeal court in Granada to consider eight arguments he is putting forward in defence of his client.
He wants them to quash the court evidence of Roy Haines, the British pensioner who told the trial he saw McArdle manhandling Kelly-Anne on their Spanish hotel balcony moments before she plunged to her death.
Mr Haines said in open court he ordered the Irishman to put his wife down after seeing him lifting her above his head — something he never mentioned in earlier statements to investigators.
Mr Casaubon is also claiming his client’s extradition from Ireland to Spain was unlawful and the investigation into Ms Corcoran’s death was flawed because of investigators’ failure to admit evidence that could have cleared him.