THERE was cheering and clapping at the High Court in Belfast yesterday as Colin Duffy's murder appeal ended and he was led away in handcuffs to prison.
His wife, Susan, said: "We don't want to be over-confident but you could say we are cautiously optimistic" about the appeal, which has just ended after three days.
Duffy (28), of Lurgan, Co Armagh, was sentenced to life imprisonment last year for the murder of John Lyness, a retired UDR sergeant.
The case attracted the attention of human rights groups and concerned individuals - including the former Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds, who was in court on Monday - after one of the main prosecution witnesses, Lindsay Robb, was jailed for 10 years in Scotland for UVF gun-running.
Robb, known only as Witness C and whose evidence was given behind screens to protect his identity, had identified Duffy as the gunman who shot Mr Lyness outside his Lurgan home in June 1993.
Robb's conviction led to the Crown deciding not to rely on his evidence at the appeal. "He can no longer be regarded as a credible witness", Crown counsel Mr John Creaney QC told a preliminary hearing last July.
The Crown was then left to rely on secondary identification evidence, including a former UDR man known as Witness B.
Mr Creaney told the court yesterday that Witness B had known Duffy for five or six years and saw him up to eight times a year. "His evidence stands as acceptable recognition because it was by a man who really did know Colin Duffy," he said.
Witness B's evidence was criticised by Duffy's counsel on the opening day of the appeal.
Mr Arthur Harvey QC argued that Witness B had only one-third of a second to identify Duffy as he was driving past the murder scene at a distance of 80 feet in a car with tinted glass.
The Lord Chief Justice, Sir Brian Hutton, who heard the appeal with Lord Justices Carswell and Nicholson, said they would give judgment as soon as possible.