Man serving life fails to get his conviction overturned

A man jailed for life 10 years ago has had a bid to have his conviction declared a miscarriage of justice, based on a recent Supreme Court decision, dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

Frank Cunningham, aged 30, with an address at Bridevalley View, Fairhill, Cork, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of father-of-one Patrick Walsh, aged 27, at Fairhill Drive, Cork on May 27, 2004.

He was found guilty by a jury at the first Cork sitting of the Central Criminal Court and was given the mandatory life sentence by Mr Justice Paul Carney on October 28, 2005.

Cunningham moved to have his conviction declared a miscarriage of justice on the grounds of new or newly discovered facts, but the DPP successfully sought to dismiss his bid yesterday as an “abuse of process”.

He contended that his conviction for murder depended largely on admissions made by him in a Cork garda station and that these admission should have been ruled inadmissible at his trial.

His Garda interviews continued after he had requested to see a solicitor and the trial judge, in 2005, ruled these admissions to be admissible.

The trial judge had held that Cunningham’s right of access to a solicitor had been ‘totally vindicated’. The question was revisited and dismissed by the Court of Criminal Appeal with that court holding that he had requested a solicitor at times and cancelled the request at other times.