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MacKenney, Henry

Published:

Henry MacKenney was convicted in November 1980 of four counts of murder. Mr MacKenney received a sentence of life imprisonment.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in February 1998.

The case concerned six murders which had taken place between 1974 and 1978.

There had been several defendants at trial.

One of these defendants pleaded guilty in December 1979 and became the chief prosecution witness, providing detailed evidence.

During review, the CCRC obtained new expert psychiatric evidence that this witness had been subject to psychological vulnerabilities that raised concerns over the reliability of their evidence.

In addition, a post-trial retraction as well as evidence that the witness had committed a previous murder (something which he had denied in the witness box) further impacted the witness’s credibility.

The CCRC referred the conviction in July 2001.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in December 2003.