Jubilant scenes outside court

REACTION:THERE WERE jubilant scenes in the Court of Criminal Appeal when Martin Conmey's conviction was quashed.

His relatives and friends burst into applause and hugged each other. Several of them had tears in their eyes.

Outside the Four Courts afterwards, Mr Conmey said he was “in total shock” and still could not believe the ruling. He said he had not been at all confident that the conviction would be quashed and he described the years since his conviction as “hell, complete and utter hell”.

Mr Conmey said he had a little bit more faith in the justice system now. “I’m an innocent man. I’ve suffered all these years for something I’ve never done,” he said, his voice cracking with emotion.

“I’m just so delighted that the court has come to this decision. They’ve seen justice at last. They’ve seen that there was a wrong done to me.”

His sister Mary, who is married to Úna Lynskey’s first cousin Pádraig Gaughan, said the death had caused a huge split in the family.

She said justice would never be done for Úna until the key suspect was found. A girl answering Ms Lynskey’s description had been seen struggling in the back of a Ford Zodiac car with a middle-aged man but gardaí never followed that line of inquiry, she said.

Mr Gaughan said families had been destroyed over this case. “We died for years, but this day is a great day,” he said. “It shouldn’t have happened.”

He said it was also important to remember Martin Kerrigan, his friend who was also suspected of being involved in the case. He was abducted and killed, shortly after Úna Lynskey’s body was found. Ms Lynskey’s two brothers and their cousin were convicted of Kerrigan’s manslaughter in 1972.

“Young Marty died for nothing and it wasn’t right,” Mr Gaughan said. His wife added that Mr Kerrigan’s sisters had attended the appeal hearings.

“We got justice today but they’ll never get justice for Marty,” she said.