Michael Byrne

Victor Boreman, Malcolm Byrne and Michael Byrne were convicted of the murder of Jonathon Reid, who was found dead after a fire at his property (the flat above that of Victor Moreman and his lodger Michael Byrne). A fight had occurred between Mr Boreman and Mr Reid earlier in the evening and Boreman and Malcolm and Michael Burn had gone to Reid’s flat and attacked him. It was 5am when the fire service were called to the address and found Mr Reid’s body. The prosecution argued that the men intended to kill Mr Reid and the injuries they caused were a substantial and operating cause of his death, and also that they started the fire deliberately. On appeal, evidence was introduced to discredit important evidence from a pathologist (suggesting that Reid was unconscious at the time that the fire started as a result of the attack on him, and was “drowning” in his own blood). The court referred to aspects of the evidence as being “just wrong,” having regard to fresh evidence. They found that if the jury had known this evidence was flawed it may have affected their verdict. The appeals succeeded on this basis and the appellants convictions of murder were substituted for convictions of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.