Frank Newell
Years in prison:
8
Year of crime:
1973
Year conviction was overturned:
2014
Frank Newell was convicted of armed robbery of a post office as part of a loyalist paramilitary-linked heist. Newell alleged his car, which was involved in the robbery, had been stolen by the real perpetrators. He originally told police it had not been stolen as he was afraid of his family being harmed. On appeal, his conviction was quashed based on the non-disclosure of crucial material that undermined the prosecution case (this included details of an alibi statement, discrepancies in witness identifications, and police intelligence pointing to his innocence and the real perpetrators).
View Press (www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk)
< Back to Case Search < Back to Overview Graph- Offence: Robbery / burglary
- Jurisdiction: Northern Ireland
- County: Unknown
- Ethnicity: White
- Gender: M
- Years in prison: 8
- Offence convicted of: Robbery
- Year of crime: 1973
- Year of initial conviction: 1973
- Year conviction was overturned: 2014
- Age when imprisoned: 32
- CCRC Referral: Y
- Tried with others: N
- Link to full case: Not available
- Type of fresh evidence at appeal: Other, evidence relating to the reliability of witness testimony
- Compensation: Unknown
- Crown argued case at CofA: Unknown
- Retrial: Unknown
- Previous appeals: Unsuccessful appeal