THE COURT of Criminal Appeal has fixed a date in January for the hearing of part of Catherine Nevin's bid to have her conviction for the murder of her husband Tom declared a miscarriage of justice.
The CCA will hear Nevin's application for an order requiring the DPP to answer the question of whether three witnesses at her trial - William McClean, Gerard Heapes and John Jones - were ever State informers, and whether Mr McClean had paramilitary connections.
She is also seeking an order that the DPP disclose a range of material and documents which she claims is relevant to her claim of a miscarriage of justice.
It is contended that the documents sought - including material on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974 and Garda security files on the three witnesses - are relevant, and will assist Nevin in undermining the credibility of the three.
Nevin also claims the documents may potentially undermine the credibility of another State witness at her trial, Patrick Russell.
The DPP has opposed handing over the material and contends that the issues raised were already considered at Nevin's trial at the Central Criminal Court and during her appeal.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman, presiding at the CCA, fixed the hearing of the motion for January 19th next. The hearing is expected to take a day and a half.
Nevin (55), was found guilty after a 42-day trial in April 2000 of the murder of her husband Tom at their pub, Jack White's Inn, Brittas Bay, on March 19th, 1996. She was also convicted on three counts of soliciting three different men to kill her husband in 1989 and 1990, six years before his murder.
She is serving a life sentence on the murder charge and a concurrent seven-year term on the soliciting charges.
Nevin's appeal against her conviction was dismissed in 2003 by the CCA.