A man has asked the High Court to stop his trial for the murder of two women at Grangegorman 14 years ago.
Mark Nash, originally from Huddersfield in Yorkshire, was charged in October 2009 with the double murders of Mary Callanan (61) and Sylvia Shields (60) at their sheltered accommodation in Grangegorman, close to St Brendan’s Psychiatric Hospital, Dublin, between March 6th and 7th, 1997.
Yesterday, lawyers for Mr Nash brought judicial review proceedings aimed at securing an order prohibiting the trial on grounds including delay in charging him, the nature of pre-trial publicity surrounding the case and the unavailability of witnesses including former state pathologist John Harbison and the late Dean Lyons, who had been charged with the murders in 1997.
Mr Nash argues the delay in bringing charges has violated his rights to an expeditious trial under the Constitution and European Convention on Human Rights.