UK Supreme Court to rule on quashed conviction compensation

The UK’s Supreme Court is due to rule later today on whether a Sinn Fein MLA and a Derry journalist should be compensated for murder convictions which were later quashed.
Foyle MLA Raymond McCartney and Journalist Eamonn MacDermott were convicted of murdering RUC officer Patrick McNulty in Derry in 1977. Mr McCartney was also found guilty of murdering DuPont managing director Jeffrey Agate in the city a week later.
Mr McCartney spent 17 years in prison. During that time he became the IRA’s officer commanding in the Maze and spent 53 days on hunger strike, while Mr MacDermott spent 15 years in jail.
Both men were cleared in February 2007 after judges said there was doubt about the safety of their guilty verdicts. After a previous compensation application and subsequent judicial review both ruled against the men,  they appealed to the Supreme Court last year.
The Lord Chief Justice reserved judgement on their appeal, and in what could prove to be a landmark case, he’ll give his ruling today.