The Gazette 1975

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