[Robert Hamill was an Irish Catholic civilian who was beaten to death by a loyalist mob in Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Hamill and his friends were attacked on 27 April 1997 on the town’s main street. It has been claimed that the local Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), parked a short distance away, did nothing to stop the attack.]
The Divisional Court, sitting today in Belfast, Friday 8th December 2017, quashed a decision of a District Judge not to commit three people for trial on charges of perverting the course of justice and conspiring to give false information to police in connection with the investigation into the death of Robert Hamill. The Court directed that a fresh preliminary inquiry should be held.
The proceedings were brought by Jessica Hamill (“the applicant”), the mother of Robert Hamill who died on 8 May 1997 following an assault in Portadown on 27 April 1997. She was seeking to quash the decision of a District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts) (“District Judge”) on 3 September 2014, declining to commit Robert Atkinson, Eleanor Atkinson and Kenneth Hanvey for trial in the Crown Court.
The District Judge, on the basis of his assessment of the credibility of the evidence of a key prosecution witness, Andrea Jones, held that there was insufficient evidence to put the accused on trial. The applicant claims that the District Judge failed to consider all of the evidence against the defendants neglecting to take into account three matters which supported the central evidence of Andrea Jones that there was a conspiracy involving the defendants. Those matters were (a) the conviction of Andrea Jones for an offence in relation to giving false information to the police as to the telephone call; (b) the conviction of her then husband Michael McKee for the same offence; and (c) evidence in relation to a telephone call to a taxi company and the records of the taxi company which supported Andrea Jones’ evidence that she was not at the Atkinsons’ home on the night of 26 – 27 April 2017 but rather was at her own home.
Conclusion
The Divisional Court quashed the District Judge’s decision of 3 September 2014 and remitted the case with a direction that the preliminary inquiry commence afresh before another judge who should feel free to make decisions on the basis of the evidence without regard to any conclusions previously reached.
Read the full judgment: http://bit.ly/2BZoykN
