A murder trial in Derry had to be adjourned yesterday because of comments made by Mr Justice Weir at the High Court in Belfast last month when he acquitted Co Armagh electrician Seán Hoey of the August 1998 murders of 29 people in the Omagh bomb atrocity.
In acquitting Mr Hoey, Mr Justice Weir raised five issues in relation to the validity of the low copy number DNA system, which formed part of the prosecution case against the defendant.
Yesterday's adjournment was the first time Mr Justice Weir's comments in relation to the reliability of low copy number DNA had affected the judicial system in Northern Ireland since his acquittal of Mr Hoey last month.
Four local men appeared before the Crown Court in Derry charged in connection with the September 28th, 2005, murder of father-of-five Jim Gilchrist, a 60-year-old musician whose body was recovered from the River Foyle.
Anthony Fahy, (20), of Northland Road, Daryl Quigley, (20), of Crawford Square, and Daniel Young, (21), of Cornshell Fields, are jointly charged with Mr Gilchrist's murder. A fourth defendant, David Young, (27), from Jefferson Court, is charged with withholding information about the murder, forging a cheque belonging to Mr Gilchrist and handling a stolen cheque book.
Prosecution barrister John Orr QC told Mr Justice Treacy that he was applying for the case to be adjourned pending the outcome of a Home Office review set up to examine the validity and reliability of low copy number DNA.
Mr Orr said his application followed Mr Justice Weir's comments about low copy number DNA at the conclusion of the Hoey trial last month.
"The low copy number system has not been validated by the international scientific community," he said.
Mr Orr said the system had been used in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Australia, and in the case of the assassination of Sweden's prime minister Olof Palme in Stockholm in February 1986. The prosecution barrister said the system was part of the evidence against Mr Quigley in the case before the court.
"There are five trials imminent in Northern Ireland which involve the system of low copy number DNA," he said.
Mr Justice Treacy adjourned the case and said he would review the matter on February 4th.