Wife of man jailed for robbery pins hopes on appeal

The Irish wife of a man jailed in Greece for crimes independent evidence shows he could not have committed is making last-minute preparations today for the long-awaited appeal hearing she hopes will free him.

Julie Marku’s husband, Mark, 28, was jailed for 18 years in January 2012 for a series of robberies in Crete despite the fact he was in Ireland when some of them took place.

Julie’s parents, Bill and Phyl O’Reilly, from Carlow, are travelling to the Greek island today to be with their daughter who returned there last month to prepare for the hearing.

The family will meet with a group from the Irish Innocence Project which has taken on the case and gathered crucial evidence of Mark’s presence in Ireland at some of the key times.

Project director, barrister David Langwallner, who will give evidence at the appeal, said last night that the team was well-prepared and strengthened by the support of DNA expert Greg Hampikian, who will testify that gloves alleged to have been found at a crime scene and to have been used by Mark, could not have been.

“The only thing is, the Wednesday hearing date may now be something of a myth as there are other cases scheduled ahead of us. We’re tenth on the list so we may be delayed a day or two but I’m here for as long as it takes,” he said.

Mark’s appeal was meant to take place last December but was adjourned by the prosecution, leaving Julie distraught and facing mounting legal bills.

A preschool teacher who met Mark while she was on a working holiday in Greece in 2007 and married him in Ireland two years later, Julie, 30, says she has been left broken by their ordeal and her parents, who run a florist shop, have spent all their savings on the efforts to free their son-in-law.

Mark, who is Albanian, was one of eight men charged with the robberies and related offences but was in Ireland when three of the seven robberies took place, and no prosecution evidence at all was offered for 11 of the 16 charges against him.

Bill O’Reilly said the family were trying to be hopeful for Mark and Julie but it was hard to have confidence in the Greek justice system. “If we hadn’t experienced what we did at the original trial in January 2012, I would be absolutely 100% confident he would get out, but they chose to ignore the facts. On paper the case is airtight but we just have to hope he’ll get a fair hearing this time.”