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Sentence on Newry man suspended provided he
enters bond to keep peace for five years.
After a 41-year-old Newry (Co. Down) man gave an
undertaking that he would not have any association,
active or otherwise, with any illegal organisation in the
future, the Court of Criminal Appeal substituted a sen-
tence of five years' penal servitude, imposed on him
by the Special Criminal Court on July 31st, 1974, with
one of four years' imprisonment, and suspended it on his
?greeing to enter into a bond to keep the peace for
five years.
Noel Murphy, the father of six children, aged
from four to 15, has been convicted and sentenced for
having in his possession at Dundalk, on July
11th last, two cylinder bombs, a fuse wire, a battery
and detonators, contrary to Section 4 of the Explosive
Substances' Act, under such circumstances as to give
rise to a reasonable suspicion that they were not for a
lawful purpose. He was also convicted of causing an
explosion, contrary to Section 2 of the Act.
Chief Justice O'Higgins, delivering the judgment of
the Court, said that having heard the argument put for-
ward on behalf of Mr. Murphy the Court was of opinion
that the conviction had been justified and that the
grounds urged were not sufficient to upset the convict-
ion. The Court had considered with sympathy the ques-
tion of sentence, and viewing the case in the light of
the undertaking given by Mr. Murphy as to his state
of mind and his intentions in the future, they were
prepared to deal with the case in a particular way.
"This is not in any way to suggest the Court does not
regard the offence of which he was convicted as being
very
serious. The Court takes a very serious
view of the gravity of such an offence. At the
same time in looks with approval on the action of
anyone, no matter how involved or concerned they
may have been in the past, who has the courage to
stand up now and stand apart, and to realise that mis-
takes have been made and are being made, and on that
basis that he is prepared to enter into a bond to carry
out the intentions he has expressed".
On entering into the bond, in his own surety of £500
and one independent surety of £2,000, Mr. Murphy was
released. Accepted as surety was Miss Annette Greene,
of Drogheda.
Mr. Murphy undertook during the next five years to
keep the peace and in particular, not to commit any
offence, contrary to the Firearms' Act, 1925; the Ex-
plosive Substances' Act, 1883 or the Offences Against
the State Act, 1939.
Asked by Counsel if he had ever been a member
of an illegal organisation, Mr. Murphy replied: "No,
never". He added that he was prepared to bind him-
self publicly on oath not to become a member of any
illegal organisation.
Counsel — Nor to have any pssociation active or
otherwise, with any illegal organisation?— That is
right. "From now on my wife and family are my only
concern".
Mrs. Eleanor Murphy, wife, said in evidence that
since her husband had been in prison she had suffered
in health and had been under medical care. She was
not a member of any illegal organisation and had no
intention of ever having any such association.
The People (A—G) v Noel Murphy
— Co u rt of
Criminal Ap p e al ( O ' H i g g i ns C. J., Mu r n a g h a n a nd
Ga n n on J. J.) p er Chief J u s t i ce — 12 D e c emb er
1974.
Northern Ireland
Case
BELFAST MAN SENTENCED FOR MURDER AS
PRINCIPAL IN SECOND DEGREE WI NS NEW
TRIAL ON GROUND OF DURESS
House of Lords (Lord Morris, Lord Wilberforce, Lord
Simon of Glaisdale, Lord Kilbrandon, and Lord
Edmund Davies)
A man who claimed he was forced by I.R.A. threats
to take part in the killing of an off-duty policeman in
Northern Ireland was entitled to have his defence of
duress put to a jury, the Hou se of Lords ruled on
March 12 last.
By a majority of three to two (Lords Morris, Wilber-
force and Davies) the Law Lords held for the first
time that duress could be a defence for a person who
aids and abets murder. They left unanswered the
question whether it could ever be a defence for a
person who actually kills.
In laying down this historic ruling on the scope of
duress as a defence to murder, the Law Lords by the
same three to two majority allowed an appeal by
Joseph Lynch, 33, who was convicted of murder and
sentenced to life imprisonment at the Belfast City
Commission in June, 1972.
But they directed that he should continue to stay
in prison pending a new trial which will be ordered by
the Court of Criminal Appeal in Northern Ireland, and
which Lynch' defence of alleged duress can be put
to the jury.
At his trial before Gibson J. and a jury in June,
1972, Lynch said he firmly believed he would have
been shot if he had ignored instructions from Sean
Meehan, a well-known and ruthless I.R.A. gunman
to drive a hi-jacked car with the accused Bates
and Whelan who shot Pc Norman Carroll in Oldpark
Road, Belfast, in January, 1972. Bates and Lynch were
convicted — Lynch as principal in the second degree
— and were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Meehan, brother of Martin Meehan, the former
Provisional battalion commander, now in the Maze
Prison under a detention order, has been named by
the police as the man who fired the shots that killed
Pc Carroll. He is believed to have escaped to the
Republic, and has never been brought to trial.
At Lynch's trial, Gibson J. ruled that duress could
not be a defence to murder, and his view was upheld
by the Court of Criminal Appeal for Northern Ireland.
154