13 March 1997 Edition
New evidence in Walsh case
New evidence which could result in West Belfast man, Christy Walsh, being freed from a 14 year sentence has been sent to Patrick Mayhew.
The evidence is in statements by two witnesses to his arrest which cast serious doubt on the validity of the charges against him.
Walsh, 33, from Broadway, on the Falls, was sentenced in 1992 at a non-jury trial after being found guilty of possessing a coffee jar bomb in the Suffolk Road 18 months previously.
No fibres from Walsh's clothes were found on the device, and though Walsh was not wearing gloves when arrested tests revealed no fingerprints and only a smudged glove print on the device.
The new evidence contradicts the testimony of a British soldier who claimed to have witnessed Walsh's arrest. It now appears this soldier was actually on the Suffolk Road, out of sight of the incident.
The eyewitness statements reinforce Walsh's claim of a `third man' who was in the alley shortly before a British paratrooper accused Walsh of abandoning the device.
The evidence is in statements by two witnesses to his arrest which cast serious doubt on the validity of the charges against him.
Walsh, 33, from Broadway, on the Falls, was sentenced in 1992 at a non-jury trial after being found guilty of possessing a coffee jar bomb in the Suffolk Road 18 months previously.
No fibres from Walsh's clothes were found on the device, and though Walsh was not wearing gloves when arrested tests revealed no fingerprints and only a smudged glove print on the device.
The new evidence contradicts the testimony of a British soldier who claimed to have witnessed Walsh's arrest. It now appears this soldier was actually on the Suffolk Road, out of sight of the incident.
The eyewitness statements reinforce Walsh's claim of a `third man' who was in the alley shortly before a British paratrooper accused Walsh of abandoning the device.