17 MAY 2013
BY NIALL MCCRACKEN
THE family of a man who died of a heart attack after being restrained by prison wardens over 17 years ago has spoken for the first time about their long struggle for justice.
James Carlisle McDonnell (36) from Antrim died in Maghaberry Prison in March 1996 shortly after an incident with officers in which he was grabbed by the neck.
During an inquest hearing on Thursday (May 17) a jury found that the neck injury suffered by Mr McDonnell during the altercation led to stress that contributed to his fatal heart attack later that day.
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15 MAY 2013
BY BARRY McCAFFREY
Senior PSNI officers who authorised the secret bugging of a key witness in a murder appeal case will now be questioned in court over their role in the operation.
John Paul Wooton (22) and Brendan McConville (41) are appealing their convictions for the murder of PSNI officer Stephen Carroll in Craigavon in March 2009.
The appeal had been due to get underway last month but was halted after the men’s legal team alleged that police had arrested and tried to coerce a crucial witness to change his statement.
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14 MAY 2013
BY KATHRYN TORNEY
A Co Armagh grammar school has rejected a highly critical inspection report which has resulted in the school being placed in formal intervention by the Department of Education, The Detail can reveal.
St Michael’s Grammar School in Lurgan is only the second grammar in Northern Ireland to have formal intervention measures imposed on it by the department after the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) rated the school as “inadequate”.
In a hard-hitting statement, St Michael’s principal Gerard Adams has rejected the inspectors’ highly critical conclusions.
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14 MAY 2013
BY NIALL MCCRACKEN
THE number of people convicted annually of crimes involving social media and other forms of public electronic communications in Northern Ireland has trebled since 2009, The Detail can reveal today.
We can also confirm that the Public Prosecution Service is currently drafting interim guidelines for dealing with cases involving social media. It is understood that these will be issued for consultation “in the not too distant future”.
Figures have been released to us by the NI Court Service in response to a Freedom of Information request. These show that in 2009 29 people in Northern Ireland were found guilty of at least one offence under section 127 of the 2003 Communications Act. In 2012 there were 110 convictions. The 2012 figures are provisional.
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