Cullen, Eric

On 24 June 1981 George Kirkpatrick, Eric Cullen and Cyril Cullen each received life sentences for the kidnap, false imprisonment and murder of Francis Rice.

Mr Rice had been stabbed to death in the early hours of 18 May 1975, near to Castlewellan in County Down.

The trial centred around disputed admissions to the offences, alleged to have been volunteered by the defendants in the course of their interviews by Royal Ulster Constabulary officers.

The defendants stated that the alleged admissions were the result of misconduct by the police officers in interview.

Applications for review were made to the CCRC in November 2018 and, after careful consideration, the CCRC found compelling evidence that called into question the credibility of investigating officers who questioned the defendants in police custody.

These officers were later criticised in the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal’s decision in R v Latimer, Hegan, Bell and Allen [1992] 1 NIJB 89.

The CCRC considered that had the judge been aware of serious concerns regarding the officers’ integrity, this may have resulted in him excluding the alleged admissions from evidence.

The CCRC referred the conviction in December 2022.

The Northern Ireland Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in January 2025.