Court overturns woman’s cold case murder conviction

The Court of Criminal Appeal has overturned the country’s first successful cold case murder conviction.

The three-judge court found prejudicial evidence used to “blacken” the name of Vera McGrath, aged 64, was heard at her trial and had the effect of rendering it unsafe and unsatisfactory. Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman said the court would quash the conviction and direct a retrial of Mrs McGrath, who was jailed for life in Jul 2010 having been found guilty at the Central Criminal Court of murdering Bernard McGrath, aged 43.

She had denied murdering her husband in Lower Coole, Westmeath, between Mar 10 and Apr 18, 1987.