McKinney, Patrick

Patrick McKinney was convicted in December 1980 of murder, possession of firearms and ammunition, and belonging to a proscribed organisation. Mr McKinney received a sentence of life imprisonment.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in April 1997.

Mr McKinney’s co-defendant, William Gorman (whose case was also referred by the CCRC), had been arrested in October 1979 on suspicion of murdering a police constable.

He was interviewed 11 times between 24 and 26 October at Castlereagh Police Station.

At the eighth of these interviews, according to the testimony of police officers, Mr Gorman made a confession statement and named Mr McKinney as his accomplice.

Mr McKinney was then arrested and was said to have also confessed at his seventh interview.

Both Messrs Gorman and McKinney alleged assault and misconduct whilst in custody which had forced their confessions. However, the trial judge found the police officers truthful and reliable witnesses.

The CCRC referred the convictions in August 1998 on the basis of new electrostatic detection apparatus (ESDA) evidence which revealed that there had been some re-writing of notes by the police officers who had interviewed the suspects, rebutting the officers’ claims that the notes were entirely contemporaneous.

If presented at trial, this evidence could have been used to significantly challenge the police officers’ evidence.

The convictions had rested heavily on the credibility of the interviewing officers’ narrative accounts of the police interviews but the ESDA evidence threw strong doubt upon the reliability of these accounts.

The Northern Ireland Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in October 1999.