Mary Clinton
Years in prison:
2
Year of crime:
1987
Year conviction was overturned:
2016
Mary Clinton and a Bernadette Armstrong were convicted of falsely imprisoning a man in their house in Northern Ireland. The man was taken from the house and shot for being a suspected informer. The women insisted the man left of his own free will. On appeal, the reliability of the complainant was called into question when it was revealed that he would only identify others if he was paid. The conviction was quashed on the basis that the prosecution had failed to disclose that a witness was an informant working for the government. The defence lawyer claimed that his clients were set up by the state in order to protect their own agent (the informant).
View Press (www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk)
< Back to Case Search < Back to Overview Graph- Offence: Other
- Jurisdiction: Northern Ireland
- County: Down
- Ethnicity: White
- Gender: F
- Years in prison: 2
- Offence convicted of: False imprisonment
- Year of crime: 1987
- Year of initial conviction: 1987
- Year conviction was overturned: 2016
- Age when imprisoned: Unknown
- CCRC Referral: N
- Tried with others: Y
- Link to full case: Not available
- Type of fresh evidence at appeal: Evidence relating to the reliability of complainant testimony, Evidence relating to the reliability of witness testimony
- Compensation: Unknown
- Crown argued case at CofA: No
- Retrial: No
- Previous appeals: Unknown