BT/1124

Outrage over £1.5m paid out on failed trials
BY DEBORAH MCALEESE
CRIME CORRESPONDENT
dmcaleese@belfasttelegraph.co.uk

DEMANDS were made today for the Public Prosecution Service to publicly explain costs after it emerged that almost £1.5m was paid to prosecutors in two failed high-profile court cases.
The Belfast Telegraph has learned that almost a quarter of a million pounds in prosecution fees were paid in the trial of Terence Davison, who was cleared of murdering Belfast man Robert McCartney. The killing rocked the peace process in January 2005, with claims that the IRA had been involved even though it was supposed to be on ceasefire.
And it emerged yesterday that almost £1.2m was paid to three prosecution barristers in the Omagh bomb trial which saw the accused, Sean Hoey, acquitted after a 56-day case.
The Omagh and McCartney trials are two of three high-profile prosecution failures. The most recent was the collapse of the trial of alleged Northern Bank robber, Chris Ward. The junior bank employee was accused of stealing £26.5m from work. A trial which took three years to get to court ended within three weeks.
Prosecution fees in the Crown case against Mr Ward are not currently known as they have not yet been paid to the PPS.
The PPS yesterday told the Telegraph that fees paid to independent counsel in the case against Sean Hoey were almost £1.2m and £243,333 in the case against Terence Davison.
The total cost to the public purse of the three failed trials is likely to be significantly higher as these costs do not cover the fees for defence solicitors and barristers which were paid through legal aid or the costs for court staff.
SDLP Justice spokesman Alban Maginness said he is "very concerned at this large expenditure of public funds" and called on the PPS to give some form of public explanation "especially when the outcomes of the cases are considered".
He added: "At present there is no legal obligation for the Public Prosecution Service to do this but at the very least there should be a moral requirement to explain how such fees are paid. We still do not have the devolution of policing and justice powers but if we did we could demand answers or compel the Director of Public Prosecutions to appear in front of a minister, the Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister or the Assembly. But it is deeply unsatisfactory to have no explanation at all."
Mr Maginness said that in Northern Ireland there are a number of high-profile cases and that payment to prosecutors must be regulated.
"While we have no control or input into the Public Prosecution Service, it will be difficult to introduce regulation. Yet it is clear we cannot have an unlimited market and we have got to be able to scrutinise the sort of fees being paid out of public funds," he added.
The collapse of the three cases was a major blow for the PPS and the PSNI. Chris Ward's solicitor, Niall Murphy, described his case as a "Kafka-esque farce" and said there must be a "root and branch analysis of how some high-profile criminal cases are prosecuted".
At the end of the Sean Hoey case the judge criticised the investigation and spoke of "the seemingly thoughtless and slapdash approach of police".
The trial of Terence Davison (51) was also high-profile and expensive, yet ultimately a failure.