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.