A new appeal by Paratrooper Lee Clegg (29) is unlikely to go ahead next Monday as planned. A week has been set aside for the hearing in the Court of Appeal in Belfast but Clegg's new lawyers have told court officials they are not ready to proceed. The case will come before the court on Monday when a defence lawyer is expected to ask the three Appeal Court judges to adjourn the hearing until after the summer recess.
Clegg's solicitors, Chadwick Lawrence, of Wakefield, Yorkshire, claim to have forensic evidence which they believe will clear him. It was this evidence which led to the case being referred back to the Court of Appeal by the former secretary of state, Sir Patrick Mayhew. The appeal will be Clegg's third against his conviction and life sentence for the murder of Karen Reilly (18) in west Belfast in 1990.