The case of a loyalist gun attack victim jailed for a bomb attack more than 40 years ago has been referred to the court of appeal.
The Criminal Case Review Commission made the referral after new evidence emerged in the case of Cookstown man Christy Cummings, who was later paralysed in a sectarian gun attack.
The 69-year-old served almost seven years behind bars for an offence he always maintained he did not commit.
The father-of-three was jailed in October 1980 after being convicted along with two other men for planting a bomb at a bank in Stewartstown, Co Tyrone, two years earlier.
Eleven years after his release from prison Mr Cummings was shot and seriously injured in loyalist gun attack believed to involve collusion.
He has been confined to a wheelchair since the LVF opened fire outside the Glengannon Hotel, near Dungannon, in December 1997, during which another man, Seamus Dillon, was killed.
Mr Cummings’ trial centred on disputed admissions he and a relative are alleged to have made to the RUC.
Both men had claimed the admissions were not made and had been “concocted” by police.
A third man pleaded guilty to the charges.
As part of the case the CCRC recently received a report from respected forensic psychologist Professor Eric Shepherd who highlighted “how the accounts of the interviewing RUC officers evolved over time, and can be shown to be inherently unreliable, when taken as a whole”.
The CCRC has also found that one of the RUC officers who interviewed Mr Cummings was present in interviews on a “separate investigation where interviewees complained that admissions had been fabricated”.
The commission also understands that a second former RUC officer involved in the Cummings case was later the subject of criticism from the Court of Appeal in connection to another case, believed to be that of the UDR Four.
The CCRC believes that if the Court of Appeal receives Professor Shepherd’s report and information about the former RUC officer present at Mr Cummings’ interview “there is a real possibility that the evidence raises sufficient doubt about the reliability of the disputed confessions that the conviction will be found unsafe”.
Mr Cummings last night said he was “delighted” by the CCRC referral.
“The penny hasn’t dropped yet, but it as a long struggle but at long last we have got what we wanted,” he said.
Mr Cummings said other family members are “over the moon” at the development.
“It was sore on them too, as it was on me,” he said.
Mr Cummings’ son, Ruairí Cummings, was born after his father went to jail and was standing just feet away on the night he was shot.
“If you look back at the likes of the Birmingham Six case, innocent men have been put away and have died behind bars innocent, where we are lucky enough that daddy has fought his case tooth and nail and always said he was innocent from day one and gave us no reason to doubt that,” he said.
Mr Cummings spoke about the impact of his father’s imprisonment on his family.
“It doesn’t affect just one person, it affected his wife, it affected me, the first eight years of my life, it affected the wider family financially, mentally, physically, every way,” he said.
He also revealed how throughout his life he has been abused, had his house attacked and been threatened as a result of what happened to his father.
Solicitor Kevin Winters, of KRW Law, said that Mr Cummings “had begun to despair of ever getting long overdue justice”.
“A turning point in his legal battle was the intervention of world renowned forensic psychologist Professor Eric Shepherd,” he said.
“His work in analysing inconsistencies with interviewing RUC officer narratives helped push this CCRC application over the line.
“It was an emotional moment for Christy and his family to get this news after so many years.
“He wants to pay tribute to Dr Shepherd and indeed to the often maligned CCRC for the collaborative work in getting to this point.
“We will now press both the Public Prosecution Service and Court of Appeal to get the appeal hearing listed.”