Northern Ireland has the highest level of quashed criminal convictions in the United Kingdom, it emerged today.
Of the 131 applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission by March this year, there were 16 referrals to the Court of Appeal, a rate of 14 per cent. This compared to the UK average of 4 per cent.
Once judges reviewed the evidence 13 convictions were quashed and two upheld. The comparable rate across the UK was 68 per cent.
Sexual guilty verdicts are among the most likely to be appealed. Delivery of drugs cases are often challenged, and greater modern expertise means flaws can be uncovered in technical evidence given during trials.
Earlier this year Derry man Charlie McMenamin (45), walked free from from court 27 years after being wrongly convicted of terrorist offences in the city.
He was only 16 when found guilty and spent three years in custody. His case had been referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
He was in a training school on the day a schoolboy was alleged to have been involved in a gun attack on soldiers in the Bogside.
PA