CONVICTED MURDERER Catherine Nevin has secured legal aid for her bid to have her conviction declared a miscarriage of justice.
Nevin (55) has initiated proceedings in which she is arguing that material not given to her lawyers at the time of her trial contained information casting doubt on the credibility and motivation of key prosecution witnesses. An appeal against her conviction was dismissed in 2003 but Ms Nevin has now brought proceedings under the Crime Procedure Act 1993.
At the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday, on the application of counsel for Nevin, Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman granted her legal aid and allowed her to amend her proceedings to include an application for an order that the State disclose all material relating to her case.
Nevin's lawyers contend that documents, including Garda security files on witnesses Gerry Heapes, John Jones and William McClean, are relevant, and would assist her in undermining the credibility of the three men and potentially that of another State witness Patrick Russell.
The material, the defence says, includes files indicating that Mr McClean was a suspect in the Dublin-Monaghan bombings of 1974.
Nevin was convicted in April 2000 of the murder of her husband, Tom, at Jack White's Inn, Brittas Bay, on March 19th, 1996.