Man's soldier murder conviction to be re-examined

The case has been referred to Northern Ireland's Court of Appeal

The case of a man jailed for life for the murder of a British soldier has been referred to the Court of Appeal following concerns about the credibility of police witnesses.

John McDevitt was convicted of the murder of Pte Neil Clark on Easter Monday 1984 in Londonderry.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has now referred Mr McDevitt’s convictions to Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal.

It said it considered the credibility of officers involved in questioning Mr McDevitt to be “substantially weakened”.

The CCRC, an independent body set up under the Criminal Appeal Act 1995, said after “extensive analysis” there was “a real possibility the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal will conclude Mr McDevitt’s conviction is unsafe”.

Pte Clark was in one of two Army Land rovers that crashed after they were attacked with petrol bombs.

He and two other soldiers were fired on as they tried to escape their vehicle.

Mr McDevitt was arrested along with seven others and charged with a total of 11 offences.

They included murder, conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and offences relating to the creation and use of petrol bombs.

He was interviewed 23 times over the course of five days, with no solicitor present.

Disputed at trial

During the first 16 interviews he denied any involvement in the murder of Pte Clark.

However it was alleged he later admitted driving gunmen to the scene of the crime.

Mr McDevitt disputed this at trial.

In 2019, he applied to the CCRC submitting claims against the police officers who carried out the interviews.

The officers in the case had been criticised in the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal’s decision in R v Latimer, Hegan, Bell and Allen.

In a statement, the CCRC said: “Having considered the Court’s findings in the Latimer case, the CCRC considers that the credibility of the officers as witnesses of truth in criminal proceedings is substantially weakened.

“This referral follows a court decision in another case referred by the CCRC, which this year resulted in the Court of Appeal quashing a conviction. This was also based on the Latimer case.

Mr McDevitt had previously applied to the CCRC in 2002.

The CCRC is responsible for independently reviewing suspected and alleged miscarriages of criminal justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.