JOINT PRESS RELEASE ON BEHALF OF PATRICK LAURENCE O NEILL CONVICTION TO THE NI COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEAL BY THE CRIMINAL CASES REVIEW COMMISSION 28TH APRIL 2025
ISSUED BY HARTE COYLE COLLINS, SOLICITORS & ADVOCATES
2nd MAY 2025
Solicitor Patricia Coyle (Harte Coyle Collins, Solicitors & Advocates) and Paul O Connor (Director of the Pat Finucane Centre) confirmed today on behalf of Laurence O Neill that 3 convictions from 1972 have been referred back to the Northern Ireland Court of Criminal Appeal as unsafe after evidence suggested there was the use of torture or inhuman and degrading treatment deployed by security force personnel to procure a confession.
Mr O’Neill was convicted in March and April 1972 for possessing ammunition with intent, possessing ammunition without a certificate and possessing explosives with intent to endanger life. He was sentenced to a total of 15 years’ imprisonment for all 3 offences. He did not recognise the court in 1972, was unrepresented and not guilty pleas were entered on his behalf. At his first trial in March 1972 Mr O Neill attempted to provide the trial judge with a copy of one of the medicals but the document was dismissed by the trial judge as not relevant to the proceedings. Documents provided to the CCRC confirm that Mr O Neill had no previous convictions and was not known to RUC Special Branch.
In November 1971 Mr O’Neill was approached by the army while in a car outside an address in Belfast. He claimed he was waiting for someone at the property. They denied knowing Mr O’Neill, and after his car was searched 700 rounds of ammunition were said to have been found in a concealed compartment on the driver’s side. The following day, his family farm was searched where a quantity of arms and ammunition was found.
After being transferred to Palace Barracks in Holywood, he was interrogated on six occasions with no solicitor present. He was subsequently medically examined, and several significant injuries were noted. At trial, a police detective said they had spoken to Mr O’Neill, and he had allegedly admitted being fully responsible for the ammunition but had declined to make a written statement. Mr O Neill subsequently sued the Ministry of Defence and the Chief Constable of the RUC and the Attorney General for wrongful arrest, assault, battery and trespass to the person and conspiracy to commit wrongful acts. This claim was settled in January 1977 and Mr O Neill was awarded compensation.
In 2016 Paul O Connor, Director of the Pat Finucane Centre, uncovered documents in the Public Records Office at Kew, London relating to the civil claim which formed the basis of an application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission regarding the safety of the convictions.
In 2019 Patricia Coyle, Mr O Neill’s lawyer, applied to the CCRC relying upon these documents and raising additional issues regarding his November 1972 arrest, detention, and interrogations.
On 28th April 2025, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) referred the case to the Court of Appeal on the basis of executive misconduct, inadmissibility of confession evidence and insufficient evidence absent of a confession.
In the Statement of Reasons for the reference of the case back to the Court of Appeal the CCRC stated that ;
“[there is] evidence to support Mr O Neill’s claim to have been subjected to abuse amounting to torture or inhuman and degrading treatment whilst in custody which led to confessions. This evidence is in the form of 2 contemporaneous medical reports and material relating to the civil claim; and
[there is] Evidence which demonstrates that senior police officers and RUC lawyers were aware that this treatment had happened and that a decision was made to concede the civil claim in part at least, to avoid exposure of these illegal actions.”
The CCRC concluded that;
“the misconduct by the investigating authorities was so egregious that the prosecution of Mr O Neill undermines public confidence in the criminal justice system and brings it into disrepute.”
Patricia Coyle of Harte Coyle Collins, Solicitors & Advocates said today;
“This is the most far-reaching and robust Statement of Reasons I have ever seen from the CCRC. I believe this may be the first case in Northern Ireland in which the CCRC has raised executive misconduct and a cover up regarding the wrongful acts inflicted on my client. From the documents unearthed by the CCRC it appears that when the objective evidence was scrutinised by the state in the civil action, some 5 years after the convictions, it led the state to close down that action to preserve the convictions. At that stage, my client had already been in jail for 5 years of a 15 year sentence. No proactive steps were taken in the interests of justice to review or reconsider the flawed convictions. As the CCRC states, the misconduct of the investigating authorities was so egregious that the prosecution of Mr O Neill undermines public confidence in the criminal justice system and brings it into disrepute. My client is now 81 years old and has waited 53 years for this day. The themes of his interrogations follow similar interrogations carried out earlier in 1971 in the Hooded Men case which was clearly characterised as torture. The question arises as to the full extent of the executive misconduct in all these cases. My client looks forward to the Court of Appeal reviewing the safety of these convictions.”
Paul O Connor, Director of the Pat Finucane Centre said today;
“Anyone who has had the privilege of knowing Laurence O Neill will recognise that the devastating torture he endured all those years ago had a profound and lasting impact on his health and well-being. Once again we see that so called “legacy” issues are deeply pertinent to the present. Lawrence should be proud of his perseverance and strength of character. A true gentleman who we has been vindicated by this referral of the unsafe convictions.”
Mr O Neill is represented by Patricia Coyle solicitor, senior barrister Brian Fee K.C. and junior barrister Gerard McGettigan BL.
Contact;
Patricia Coyle
02890 278227
