A Labour MP has said he is hopeful that the case of jailed Tipperary man Christy McGrath will be referred to the Court of Appeal in Britain this year.
Mr John McDonnell also said he believed McGrath (26) will be released when he gets his day in court.
Mr McDonnell is a leading spokesman in Britain for the campaign in support of McGrath. Three years ago the jump jockey from Seán Treacy Park, Carrick-on-Suir, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Gary Walton in Durham on July 17th, 2000.
McGrath, who is imprisoned at Gartree in Leicestershire, admitted fighting with Mr Walton and striking him with a brick, although he denies murdering him.
Since his imprisonment a campaign on both sides of the Irish Sea has lobbied to have the conviction overturned. The latest development in that campaign is a motion tabled by Mr McDonnell in the House of Commons. which claims a substantial body of evidence has been identified which casts considerable doubt on the conviction, leading to calls for a re-trial from MPs, members of Dáil Éireann, fellow jockeys, horse racing trainers and numerous Irish community organisations.
A jockey who rode for Norman Mason's Durham City stables in Brancepeth, McGrath fought with Walton in a row at the Miners Arms pub in Coundon, Durham, after he had abused the jockey for being Irish.