A man jailed for murdering his wife on a family boating trip has cleared the first stage in a legal bid to have the conviction overturned.
Stephen McKinney (46) was granted leave to appeal his conviction for killing Lu Na McKinney during a holiday on Lough Erne, Co Fermanagh, in April 2017.
Northern Ireland’s Lady Chief Justice, Dame Siobhan Keegan, listed the challenge for a full hearing in June.
McKinney is serving a minimum 20 years in prison for murder.
The body of his 35-year-old wife was recovered from the water near a jetty at Devenish Island, where the couple were moored on a cruise with their two young children.
McKinney, originally from Fintona in Co Tyrone, has always denied the killing. The couple had been living in Convoy, Co Donegal, before Ms McKinney’s death.
McKinney claimed his wife fell into the water while on deck checking mooring ropes, and that he tried to save her.
In 2021, a jury at Dungannon Crown Court found him guilty of her murder after accepting the prosecution case that it was not a boating accident.
McKinney has now instructed a new legal team to apply for leave to contest the conviction.
Barristers Brian McCartney KC and Damien Halleron advanced a series of grounds aimed at securing a full hearing.
At the Court of Appeal on Monday it emerged that leave to contest the jury finding has been obtained, based on a preliminary judicial assessment of the points raised.
In a separate action, McKinney is also appealing the 20-year sentence imposed on him.
With some trial transcripts still being sought as part of the legal challenge, Justice Keegan said she would list it for two days in June.