PRESS RELEASE ON BEHALF OF JOHN MCDEVITT
CCRC REFERS 4 FURTHER CONVICTIONS TO THE COURT OF APPEAL
ISSUED BY HARTE COYLE COLLINS, SOLICITORS & ADVOCATES
10TH APRIL 2025
John McDevitt’s lawyer confirmed today that the Criminal Cases Review Commission in Birmingham has referred 4 further convictions dating 1986 to the NI Court of Criminal Appeal in addition to the murder conviction referred back in October 2024. The CCRC made the additional referrals this week on 9th April 2025.
The Commission had already referred a murder conviction to the Court of Appeal on 30th October 2024. That appeal is before the Court for review tomorrow 11th April 2025. The appeal has not yet been fixed for hearing.
The 4 further convictions referred by the CCRC this week include 2 counts of wounding with intent, attempting to cause GBH with intent and possession of firearms with intent.
Mr McDevitt was convicted of the murder of Private Neil Clark at Belfast Crown Court in 1986. Private Clark was killed on the Easter Monday 23rd April 1984 by a single gunshot wound to the head after exiting a land-rover which had been set on fire with a petrol bomb at Bishop Street, Derry.
The additional 4 counts referred back to the NI Court of Appeal this week relate to the same incident and include the woundings of 2 other soldiers, a conspiracy charge regarding attempting to cause GBH with intent and possession of firearms with intent.
Mr McDevitt was arrested at 7am on the 2nd of May 1984 some 2 weeks after the shooting incident. He was detained in Castlereagh Police Holding Centre and interviewed 23 times over 5 days. He was arrested with the 7 other persons who were also prosecuted for various offences including murder, arson, making and possession of petrol bombs, wounding with intent and possession of firearms with intent.
Mr McDevitt was the sole defendant in the trial to challenge the evidence in respect of all charges against him. He gave evidence in his own defence but was convicted by a Diplock court in 1986. The conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeal in 1987.
The convictions were based solely on statements he had signed while in Castlereagh Police Holding Centre one month after the incident in May 1984. Mr McDevitt gave evidence at his trial, and asserted on appeal, that the statements were coerced as a result of the oppressive and coercive interview techniques involving threats and inducements from interviewing police officers while in police custody.
Mr McDevitt’s lawyer made an application to the CCRC in 2019 relying on a number of issues including questions about the credibility of some of the interviewing police officers, covert surveillance of police interviews in Castlereagh and queries as to whether the gun used in the incident was subject to GPS tracking by the security services.
On 30th October 2024 the CCRC referred the murder conviction back to the Court of Appeal on the basis that 2 of the police officers involved in taking the critical admission statement from Mr McDevitt had been previously discredited in the UDR4 case. The convictions of 3 of the UDR4 were quashed in 1992. The physical interview notes in the UDR4 case were subject to forensic ESDA testing by the police when questions were raised by their campaign about reliability of the documents before the convictions were quashed in July 1992.
Lawyers for Mr McDevitt have been advised this month that none of the original police interview notes from McDevitt’s time in Castlereagh can be located. The custody record which would provide details of his detention in Castlereagh Holding Centre has also not been located.
Patricia Coyle solicitor for Mr McDevitt said today;
“My client and his family very much welcome the CCRC’s decision to refer 4 further convictions back to the Court of Appeal. These 4 convictions emanate from the same contested statement of admission which grounds the murder conviction. That statement of admission was taken by 2 interviewing police officers who were also involved in the UDR4 case just 5 months earlier in 1983. My client looks forward to the opportunity to present his case to the Court of Appeal after maintaining his innocence for almost 40 years.”
Mr McDevitt is represented by Patricia Coyle solicitor of Harte Coyle Collins, Solicitors & Advocates, senior barrister Dessie Hutton K.C. and junior barrister Gerard McGettigan BL.
Contact;
Patricia Coyle
02890 278227
