NI: Man’s 1983 conviction for IRA killing of Maze Prison deputy governor quashed
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Fearghal Shiels
A man convicted of murder and possession of firearms nearly four decades ago has had his convictions quashed by the Court of Appeal.
Kevin Barry Artt was convicted in 1983 in connection with the 1978 killing of Albert Miles, deputy governor of the Maze Prison.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment but was one of 38 prisoners who escaped from the Maze in a major IRA breakout later that year. He subsequently fled to the US and has remained there ever since.
Following a hearing conducted remotely, Mr Artt’s 1983 conviction was quashed on the basis of new forensic analysis of police interview notes which were central to the original trial.
Fearghal Shiels of Madden & Finucane Solicitors, representing Mr Artt, said his client “has always maintained that he was innocent of this murder since he was first arrested for it in 1978 and again in 1981”.
He added: “Scientific techniques which were not available at the time of his trial have shown that the interview notes which police witnesses told the trial judge were written contemporaneously in fact were not.
“This is the latest in a number of appeals in this jurisdiction which highlight a depressing enthusiasm on the part of RUC officers to lie on oath to a court to secure a conviction of an innocent man at any cost.”
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