Calls for retrial of Irish man in UK jail for murder

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has been urged to raise the case of an Irish jockey jailed in Britain for murder with British prime minister Tony Blair.

Christy McGrath (26) was jailed for life in 2001 for the murder of former Newcastle United footballer Gary Walton in July 2000.

The jump jockey, from Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary, has admitted assaulting Walton in a late-night row but has denied murdering him.

The pair had a fight outside a pub in Coundon, in the west midlands, after McGrath said he had been racially abused by Walton. The small jockey said he struck him in self-defence as Walton was over 6ft tall.

He said he left Walton lying injured in the garden of the pub. The following morning he was arrested, first for grievous bodily harm and then for murder.

Up to the eve of his trial, he pleaded not guilty but then changed his plea to guilty, claiming he was told he could receive 25-30 years in jail if he did not. He said he believed he was pleading guilty to manslaughter.

After his guilty plea, it emerged that Walton had died from strangulation and severe facial injuries but McGrath insisted he had not strangled him.

It also emerged that the body was still warm when it was discovered at 7am, whereas McGrath said the fight had happened before 1am.

Yesterday Christy McGrath's family and supporters held a briefing session for Oireachtas members and launched an account of the case, written by McGrath from his prison cell.

Chairing the session, Sen Labhrás Ó Murchú said it was clear that the young jockey was "a very decent and a very respectable man who obviously found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time".

He said the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six would still be in prison today if people had not fought for them. "Unless we as a people take an interest in this, Christy is going to see another decade in prison."

McGrath's father, also Christy, urged the Taoiseach to take up the case. "When politicians want votes, they know where to come. They know the doors to knock on and Bertie Ahern knows whose door to knock on and I'm only asking him one thing - to do something for my son."

He said his son's health had deteriorated since his imprisonment and he had been fitted with two pacemakers. "I don't know where he's getting the strength from and I don't know where my family is getting the strength."

British Labour MP John McDonnell, who chaired the Guildford Four campaign, came to Dublin yesterday to support the case.