No compensation paid to man convicted due to typist’s error
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A man who spent two decades fighting a wrongful criminal conviction now recognised as caused by a typist’s error has still received no compensation from the State, the Irish Examiner reports.
Stephen Murphy was convicted in 1996 of offences committed when he was not present after a typist mistakenly transcribed “Stephen Murphy Snr” - a reference to his father - as “Stephen Murphy Jnr”.
At a Supreme Court hearing last year, Mr Justice Frank Clarke recommended that the State make a substantial ex gratia payment to Mr Murphy for the stress and anguish caused to him.
However, the Chief State Solicitor’s Office wrote in a letter to Mr Murphy: “In relation to the ex gratia payment referred to in your letter and in the comments of Mr Justice Clarke which do not form part of the enclosed order, I do not have instructions to make a payment to you.”
Mr Murphy told the Irish Examiner: “I look at the difference between how I’ve been treated and how the 14,000 with wrongful convictions on road offences have. At least they got an apology from the guards for what they’d been put through. I’ve got nothing.”
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