Date set for O'Reilly appeal hearing

A date has been set for the hearing of an appeal by Joe O'Reilly against his conviction last year for the murder of his wife, Rachel.

The appeal will take place before the Court of Criminal Appeal on December 18 next.

O'Reilly, who was not present when his case was briefly mentioned before Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman at the CCA today, is serving a life prison sentence.

The hearing of the appeal is expected to last for one day.

O'Reilly (aged 35), Lambay View, Baldarragh, The Naul, was convicted unanimously by a jury at the Central Criminal Court in July 2007 of the murder of his 30-year-old wife at their home on October 4, 2004.

The couple had two children. O'Reilly had denied murder.

He was jailed for life by Mr Justice Barry White and lodged an appeal against conviction and sentence in August last.

In his appeal O'Reilly claims the trial was unsatisfactory and his conviction "unsafe".

It is believed O'Reilly will contend the evidence against him was insufficient to allow any more than a suspicion of guilt on his part and that the trial judge should, in those circumstances, have directed the jury to enter a not guilty verdict.

O'Reilly's grounds of appeal were lodged with the Court of Criminal Appeal last year and are believed to include arguments that evidence of mobile phone records and data relating to the location of O'Reilly's mobile phone on the date of his wife's murder should not have been permitted by the trial judge to go before the jury.