Bid to stop retrial rejected
Colm Murphy, aged 53, a building contractor and publican who is a native of Co Armagh but with an address at Jordan’s Corner, Ravensdale, Co Louth, had claimed the “systemic delay” in prosecuting him has prejudiced his right to a fair and speedy trial.
That delay, it was argued, included an inexcusable three-year delay by the DPP in preferring perjury charges against two gardaí who gave evidence at his first trial which opened in 2001. Such a lapse, it was argued, would amount to a breach of his constitutional rights and under the European Convention of Human Rights.
