Martin, James

James Martin and his co-defendant Veronica Ryan were convicted together in May 1991 at Belfast Crown Court of the false imprisonment of Joseph Fenton.

Mr Martin was also convicted on that date of making property available for terrorism. Mr Martin was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and Ms Ryan was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.

The prosecution case against Mr Martin and Ms Ryan was that they falsely imprisoned Mr Fenton in Belfast between 25th and 26th February 1989. Mr Martin was also charged with aiding and abetting the murder of Joseph Fenton but was acquitted of that offence.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in February 2008.

The CCRC’s review of these convictions followed the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal’s decision in January 2009 to quash Mr Martin’s and Ms Ryan’s convictions relating to a separate incident.

The CCRC carried out a detailed investigation into the convictions relating to Mr Fenton. It decided to refer the convictions to the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal because it considered there was a real possibility that the Court would quash them.

The nature of the issues leading to the referral meant that the CCRC could not dislcose the specific reasons for its decision. The full reasons for the referral was provided in a confidential annex to the Court of Appeal and the Public Prosecution Service.

The CCRC referred the conviction in September 2011.

The Northern Ireland Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in October 2014.