Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

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Martin McCauley

 

Charge:

Firearm related (including ammunition)

Sentence:

2 years suspended

Years Imprisoned:

Year Crime:

1982

Year Convicted:

1985

Year Cleared:

2014

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

United Kingdom

County or Region of Crime:

Northern Ireland

City of Crime:

County Armagh

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

"Martin McCauley was wrongly convicted in 1985 of a weapons charge in Northern Ireland related to a shooting in 1982 in which the police wounded McCauley and killed his friend Michael Tighe. McCauley insisted he and Tighe had been unarmed, but police officers testified they were. After his conviction of possessing three rifles found inside his shed, McCauley was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended pending his good behavior. Years after McCauley's conviction a police investigation into allegations the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) operated on a shoot to kill policy discovered that MI5 had a listening device inside McCauley's shed at the time of the shooting, It was also discovered that recording, which could have corroborated McCauley and Tighe were unarmed, had been destroyed. In 2013 the Criminal Case Review Commission referred McCauley's case to the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal, on the basis that potentially significant material evidence had been withheld from McCauley's counsel and the judge, and the RUC had engaged in a deliberate cover-up to prevent the officers involved in the shooting from being criminally prosecuted for shooting the unarmed McCauley and Tighe. On May 14, 2014 the Public Prosecution Service announced it would not oppose the quashing of McCauley's appeal. On May 20, 2014 the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal quashed McCauley's 1985 conviction as unsafe."

Conviction Caused By:

Police and prosecutor misconduct for failing to disclose an audio recording existed that could have proven McCauley's innocence.

Innocence Proved By:

"On May 20, 2014 the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal quashed McCauley's 1985 conviction as unsafe."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"One of 'Colombia Three' has weapons conviction quashed, By Vincent Kearney (BBC News NI Home Affairs Correspondent), BBC News, May 20, 2014"

Information Location 1:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27493189

Information Source 2:

"PPS will not oppose Martin McCauley's weapons appeal, By Vincent Kearney (BBC News NI Home Affairs Correspondent), BBC News, May 20, 2014"

Information Location 2:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27409548

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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org

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