Court quashes Meath man's 40-year-old manslaughter conviction

The Court of Criminal Appeal has quashed a Meath man's 40-year-old conviction for the manslaughter of a young woman, whose body was found in a ditch in December 1971 some two months after she had disappeared.

Today the three-judge court quashed Martin Conmey's conviction after finding that "newly discovered facts" raised for the first time in Mr Conmey's appeal showed that this was a case where there may have been a miscarriage of justice.

Martin Conmey had always maintained that he was not responsible for the death of 19-year-old civil servant Una Lynsky. He argued that his conviction in 1972 for her manslaughter was unsafe on grounds including that statements taken from key witnesses were not disclosed to his lawyers during his trial in 1972.

Ms Lynsky vanished while returning home from work on the evening of October 12, 1971. Her journey from the bus stop to her family home at Porterstown Lane, Rathoath, Meath, should have taken 15 minutes by foot but she never returned home.

Two months later her body was discovered in a remote part of the Dublin mountains. A postmortem examination failed to reveal exactly how she died. She had no broken bones and there were no signs she was strangled.

Mr Conmey appealed against his conviction under Section 2 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1993, is part of his bid to have his conviction declared a miscarriage of justice. His lawyers will now seek a declaration that there had been a miscarriage of justice.

The verdict was followed by a loud round of applause, embraces and tears of joy from the large number of friends, family and supporters of Mr Conmey, who had gathered in the Four Courts.

Thirty-eight years ago Mr Conmey (aged 59) of Porterstown Lane, Rathoath and another man, Dick Donnelly, were convicted of Ms Lynsky's manslaughter. Mr Donnelly's conviction was overturned in 1973, however Martin Conmey lost his his appeal and served three years in prison for the offence.

A third man, Martin Kerrigan, was also suspected of having been involved in Ms Lynskey's death, but he was abducted and killed a short time after her body was discovered.

Following yesterday's decision a shocked and very emotional Martin Conmey said that his faith in the justice system had been restored and he thanked his wife and son for their support and belief in him.

In quashing the conviction the CCA, comprised of Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman presiding sitting with Mr Justice Declan Budd and Mr Justice Eamon de Valera found that statements made by witnesses at Mr Conmey's trial were not disclosed to the defence and should have been.