COLIN Duffy is serving a life sentence for a murder he says he did not commit. His supporters believe it is a gross miscarriage of justice, similar to the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four.
Such is the concern growing about the case that the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, and two former taoisigh, Dr Garret Fitzgerald and Mr Albert Reynolds, are taking a keen interest.
Indeed, the case has been discussed at Anglo Irish governmental meetings and the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin is to meet the Duffy family to discuss it within weeks.
Controversy surrounding the Duffy case has intensified, with speculation that the Crown may ask for Public Interest Immunity Certificates at the Appeal in relation to one of their chief prosecution witnesses, Lindsay Robb.
Such certificates are issued by the British government and are normally used only in matters of national security. A loyalist, Robb was later convicted of conspiracy to run guns for the UVF.
On June 23rd, 1993, former UDR sergeant John Lyness was shot dead near his home in Lurgan. Duffy was convicted of the crime and the conviction hinged on the testimony of the two main prosecution witnesses, Witness B and Witness C.
At Duffy's trial last July, it was claimed that two men on bicycles were seen near the scene of the murder. Witnesses claim one cyclist was the gunman.
Witness B was a former soldier in the UDR and RIR. Witness C was Lindsay Robb, a member of the loyalist Progressive Unionist Party peace talks delegation to Stormont. He was jailed last December, just months after Duffy's conviction, for conspiracy to run guns for the UVF.
Robb, in testifying against Colin Duffy, said he was walking through Lurgan Park soon after the shooting when he saw two men, one he knew as the defendant, cycling away from the murder scene. He did not come forward immediately but rang the confidential telephone just before midnight on July 1st, the day it became public knowledge that Duffy had been arrested for the crime.
Though the defence has asked to listen to the tape of Robb's telephone call, it has never been produced.
The defence also objected to the fact that Robb's identification of Duffy was while he was in the dock on trial. They dismissed Robb's evidence that he knew the accused through pool matches at the Derryhirk Inn near Lurgan, claiming Duffy had never been there.
Duffy's solicitor, Mrs Rosemary Nelson, believes Robb had no more than a fleeting glance of the cyclist he claimed was Duffy. She also points to the lapse in time before the witness called the police and that he did not mention Duffy's name to the RUC until July 22nd, 1993, almost a month after the murder and certainly after Duffy had been charged.
The evidence of Witness B has also been questioned, primarily on the grounds that he could not have seen what he said he did. The reason given was that he was driving a car at a speed and distance which could have allowed him only a glimpse of the attack.
Moreover, the car's windows were tinted and stained by tobacco smoke. The defence insists his evidence contradicted that of other witnesses. Witness B revealed under cross examination that while he said he knew Duffy, the last time he could remember seeing him was while searching at car Duffy was travelling in about three years previously.
Another witness in the case, Witness A, revealed under cross examination that he was shown photographs of a number of people some three or four days after the murder but was unable to identify either of the cyclists from these.
Mr Gregory McCann was playing golf at Lurgan Golf Club that day when he saw the two cyclists escaping across the course. They cycled about 10 yards from him. He had known Colin Duffy for many years and was confident neither cyclist was the defendant. Mr McCann said he had told a policeman this three months before the trial but the policeman did not note it. He said he had wanted to reveal this information long before then but his girlfriend said he should not get involved.
Mr Justice Kerr said: "I am satisfied beyond doubt that he did not inform Detective Sergeant Forde or any other police officer that he knew that neither cyclist was the accused." Indeed, the judge rejected Mr McCann's testimony completely.
This is merely a synopsis of the defence case. There are many more points and much more detail. However, each point the defence raised to challenge evidence brought forward by the Crown was rejected by the judge, Mr Brian Kerr.
Indeed, the judge said of Lindsay Robb: "In any examination, C emerged from that rigorous cross examination as a witness of obvious honesty, prepared to make concessions as to the limitations of his opportunity for observation, ready to acknowledge the fallibility of his memory and convincing in his explanation of his political beliefs and the impartiality of his testimony."
Robb, the man who was convicted last December of conspiracy to run guns for the UVF and who delivered a hard hitting statement on behalf of the Mid Ulster UVF at the beginning of the Stormont peace talks in January 1995, had told the court at Duffy's trial that he condemned the activities of the UVF.
Mr Kerr continued: "Although he was pressed hard but legitimately about the contents of the article in the Lurgan Mail which purported to record his views about the situation in Northern Ireland, and although it was strongly suggested to him that this betrayed a lack of objectivity, I am of the opinion that his evidence on this and all other aspect of the case has the hallmark of accuracy and honesty."
Despite the ceasefire, Robb was told his evidence at the Duffy trial, which ended in July 1995, made him a prime target for the IRA. The RUC said his life was in danger. He was given £2,000, a personal protection weapon and then moved to Ayr in Scotland to live with his girlfriend where he continued his political activities and maintained his contacts with Scottish loyalists.
Sixteen days after Duffy was sentenced, Robb and five other men were seen drinking in a bar in Falkirk. Police believe this was the day plans were finalised to smuggle two guns to Northern Ireland.
Det Chief Supt John Ogg, of the Central Scotland Police, told the BBC current affairs programme Spotlight that initially it began as a surveillance operation, also involving the security services in early July while the Duffy trial was on going. MI5 and Special Branch followed three of Robb's colleagues to Liverpool who then returned to Scotland with the guns.
Also at his trial, Robb's character witness was the police officer who led the Lyness murder investigation and brought Duffy to trial.
On December 20th, 1995, Robb was jailed for 10 years for conspiring to acquire guns for the UVF. On sentencing, Lord Sutherland said: "For someone purporting to take part in the peace process on the one hand and indulge in conspiring to acquire arms on the other is particularly disgraceful." Robb shouted: "Up the UVF" on leaving the court.
His testimony in the Duffy case appears to contradict his public utterances and activities outside that courtroom.
Robb became a member of the PUP peace talks team soon after the loyalist ceasefire. In early 1995, the PUP, which represents the UVF, and the UDP, which represents the UDA, had a joint meeting with government officials at which Robb reportedly produced a statement from the MidUlster UVF.
It said: "The Mid Ulster Brigade of the UVF will never contemplate defeat and can not live in humiliation or dishonour. We call upon Her Majesty's Government to re evaluate the course of action thus far taken and make immediate and radical amends and to understand that we shall not hesitate even at the cost of our own lives and liberty to take all measures deemed necessary to secure our own legitimate borders and defend our Ulster nation."
Colin Duffy has maintained his innocence throughout the case. He says he was at his mother in law's home with his daughter Katriona, now aged seven. His mother in law has corroborated his story.
His wife Susan has been working since her husband's conviction to get support for his release and a group calling itself Friends of Colin Duffy has been set up. It organises rallies and co ordinates the campaign for his release.
Duffy's case is up for mention at Appeal on May 17th.