Madden & Finucane
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the Madden & Finucane
and Pat Finucane
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Test case on ‘paramilitary’ confessions
16 January 2001 --
A test case over the convictions of alleged paramilitaries, mainly as a result
of their confession statements, opened in the court of appeal in Belfast
yesterday. The case of Gerard Magee (36), of Niblock Road, Antrim, was referred
to the court by the Criminal Cases Review Commission following a judgment by the
European court of human rights last June. It held that Magee’s admission at
Castlereagh Holding Centre, Belfast, after he was denied access to a solicitor
for more than two days was in breach of his right to a fair trial under Article
6 of the European Convention. Magee was convicted in December 1990 on charges of
conspiracy to murder soldiers and cause an explosion as well as IRA membership.
He was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and served almost half that before
being released under the terms of the Good Friday agreement. His solicitor, of
Madden and Finucane, said the case had potentially huge implications for all
those whose convictions were based wholly or substantially on confessions
obtained at Castlereagh or Gough Barracks, Armagh, from the introduction of the
Criminal Evidence Order 1988 and possibly before that. “The case raises the
prospect that any conviction over the last 12 years based on such confessions
will be open to challenge.” Magee was in court to hear his lawyer Seamus Treacy
QC argue the case before the three appeal judges who are expected to reserve
judgment when the hearing ends.
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