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| Stephen Cahoon from Londonderry has murder conviction quashed | Stephen Cahoon from Londonderry has murder conviction quashed |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A Londonderry man who was jailed for life for the murder of his pregnant ex-girlfriend has had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal in Dublin. | A Londonderry man who was jailed for life for the murder of his pregnant ex-girlfriend has had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal in Dublin. |
| Stephen Cahoon, 42, with a last address at Harvey Street, Derry, admitted strangling Jean Quigley on 26 July, 2008. | Stephen Cahoon, 42, with a last address at Harvey Street, Derry, admitted strangling Jean Quigley on 26 July, 2008. |
| However he denied it was murder. | However he denied it was murder. |
| He was found guilty of murder on 30 April, 2012. A retrial has been ordered and he has been remanded in custody. | He was found guilty of murder on 30 April, 2012. A retrial has been ordered and he has been remanded in custody. |
| Counsel for Cahoon said a retrial would be his client's third trial on the matter in circumstances where he had already served six years in custody. | |
| Cahoon's successful ground of appeal, submitted by his senior counsel was that the trial judge had misdirected the jury while explaining the defence of provocation. | Cahoon's successful ground of appeal, submitted by his senior counsel was that the trial judge had misdirected the jury while explaining the defence of provocation. |
| In its judgment delivered on Wednesday, the President of the Court of Appeal said "it was a mistake on a central if not the central point of the whole case". | |
| He said it was "a small number of words" used by the judge after he gave a substantial direction on the law and facts of the case. | |
| It was not sufficient to answer the appeal by finding that "words were few and might not have had an impact". | |
| The judgement said the court would have to be satisfied that the words did not actually influence the jury. | |
| The court allowed the appeal, quashed the conviction and ordered a retrial subject to Cahoon's lawyer's possible application that a retrial should not be the outcome. | |
| Cahoon, an unemployed labourer originally from Magherafelt, was remanded in custody to 13 April. | |
| The Cahoon trials made legal history. | |
| He was charged under the Criminal Law Jurisdiction Act of 1976 and was given the option of being tried in the Republic of Ireland or in Northern Ireland. |