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Presidential Pardon

01 July 1992

At the end of April, Mary Robinson, the President of Ireland, was directed by the government to pardon Nicky Kelly, convicted of the 1976 Sallins mail train robbery. This case is the most infamous example of a miscarriage of justice in the Republic of Ireland. Kelly was one of six men originally charged with the robbery. Four of these went to trial and three were convicted. On appeal Brian McNally and Osgur Breatnach were released, but Kelly remained in jail, his eventual appeal to the Supreme Court being dismissed. Kelly had been convicted on the basis of a statement signed while under interrogation by the Garda's notorious "heavy gang", allegations against which led the government to set up the O'Briain Committee in 1977. Kelly always maintained his innocence, arguing that he had only signed a confession after a sustained beating. Gardai claimed that the severe bruising found on Kelly when he arrived in Mountjoy prison had been caused by the other suspects in the case (who were also covered in bruises).

The first trial, which took place before the juryless Special Criminal Court, became notorious because one of the three judges kept falling asleep. The same judge was found dead at home one morning and the trial was abandoned after 65 days -- the longest trial ever in the history of the state. A new trial began and, during one weekend adjournment with McNally, Breatnach and Kelly out on bail, Kelly disappeared. Kelly fled to the United States. A year later, he returned to Ireland voluntarily and was arrested. In May 1983, following the Supreme Court's decision to uphold his conviction, Kelly began a hunger strike which lasted 38 days. One year later, in July 1984, Kelly was released "on humanitarian grounds".

Since his release, Kelly has not only campaigned for his conviction to be squashed, but has fought for an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his conviction and has added his voice to the growing calls for a new procedure to investigate miscarriages of justice. In June the Irish government offered Kelly IR£75,000 in compensation. Kelly claims that fighting his case has cost more than IR£100,000.