European court to rule on 'Bik' McFarlane case today

The European Court of Human Rights is to rule today whether there was undue delay in prosecuting Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane for the kidnapping of supermarket executive Don Tidey.

The 59-year-old was cleared of false imprisonment and firearms possession at his trial in the Special Criminal Court in 2008.

It was alleged he had committed the offences following his escape from the Maze prison in 1983.

He was arrested in 1998 having been released on parole from a prison sentence in the North for his involvement in an IRA bombing in the 1970s.

He went to Europe following a Supreme Court ruling in 2006 allowing the trial to proceed.