Two Belfast men convicted of an IRA killing of a policeman in 1974 have had their case referred back to the Court of Appeal in Belfast, 18 years after being convicted of murder.
One of the men served 14 years in jail, and the other 10 years, before being released.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates suspected miscarriages of justice cases, said in a ruling yesterday that it had "a lurking doubt" about the safety of the convictions, and that there were "disquieting features" in police interview notes presented to the original trial.
Mr Billy Gorman (37), who served 14 years, and Mr Patrick McKinney (40), who served 10 years for the killing of Constable Thomas Ian McClinton, have always maintained their innocence. Mr Gorman was aged 14 at the time of the shooting.
The two men were arrested and charged in 1979, five-and-a-half years after the killing of Constable McClinton, which was admitted by the IRA. They were convicted solely on the basis of confessions, which they claim they made after days of physical and mental ill-treatment in police custody in Castlereagh Holding Centre in Belfast.
In its ruling yesterday, the CCRC said a scientific test carried on the police notes of interviews with Mr Gorman and Mr McKinney constituted new evidence. ESDA (Electrostatic Deposit Analysis) tests have also been used in other high-profile miscarriage of justice cases.
The commission said that a finding by a forensic scientist of "rewriting of some of the notes puts the integrity of the notes into dispute, and therefore raises doubt as to the integrity of the evidence given at the trial that the notes were taken contemporaneously".
The ruling added: "The commission finds disquieting features in the police interview notes, in particular the sudden eruption of confessions from both applicants with no apparent transition from absolute denial to complete admission."
It ruled that there was "sufficient evidence in the form of ESDA findings, which was not available to the defence at trial, to call into question the safety of the convictions".
ESDA testing relies on the fact that when someone writes on a notepad, indentations which are invisible to the naked eye are produced on the page below. If the surface page is later altered, ESDA can reveal what was originally written by showing the indentations.
The men's solicitor, Mr Joe Rice, said last night that the referral was "a historic breakthrough". This is the first case to be referred back to the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
"At last somebody in authority is listening to their protestations of innocence. Nothing has changed since the original trial, except that ESDA testing has now allowed us to show considerable weaknesses in the alleged statements of admission, and there was no other evidence against these men," Mr Rice said.
Both men said last night that they were delighted that the case had finally been referred back to the Court of Appeal. Mr Gorman said: "We have always said we were innocent. Now maybe we will get a chance to prove it.
"For the past five years the authorities have tried to prevent this new evidence getting to the Court of Appeal. The Director of Public Prosecutions refused to prosecute policemen after the chief constable ordered an investigation into the ESDA findings. At least the CCRC seems to have listened to us," Mr Gorman said.