The British government has been ordered to pay £10,000 in legal costs and expenses for denying a man access to a solicitor during interrogation. The case was brought to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg by Mr Gerard Magee, who was arrested in December 1988 in connection with an attempted bomb attack on military personnel.
According to the unanimous judgment issued yesterday, he was taken to Castlereagh interrogation centre where access to legal advice was delayed for 48 hours. During this time he made two statements of admission of involvement in the attack and signed a lengthy confession.
He was held on remand until his trial on December 21st, 1990. He was charged with possession of explosives with intent, conspiracy to cause an explosion and conspiracy to murder, and membership of the IRA. He did not give evidence, and the only evidence heard was the confession. The judge ruled the confession evidence admissible, and he was convicted and sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment, of which he served 10 years.
He appealed his conviction, which was rejected in 1994. He then lodged an application with the European Court of Human Rights, seeking a declaration that his right to fair trial, guaranteed under Article 6.1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, had been breached by the denial of access to a solicitor.
The court noted that Mr Magee had asked for a solicitor when he arrived in Castlereagh, but that this was delayed for 48 hours. It commented: "In the court's view, the austerity of the conditions of the applicant's detention and his exclusion from outside contact were intended to be psychologically coercive and conducive to breaking down any resolve he may have manifested at the beginning of his detention to remain silent.
"As a matter of procedural fairness the applicant should have been given access to a solicitor at the initial stages of his interrogation, as a counterweight to the intimidating atmosphere specifically designed to sap his will and make him confide in his interrogators."
Mr Magee's solicitor, Ms Patricia Coyle, of Madden and Finucane, told The Irish Times that an appeal against his convictions had already been lodged with the Criminal Case Review Commission.