Nicky Kelly is released after serving four years in Portlaoise Prison for a crime he says he did not commit.
Nicky Kelly, served four years in Portlaoise Prison for the 1976 Sallins Mail Train Robbery, a crime he vehemently denies he committed.
I am innocent.
The Minister for Justice Michael Noonan released Nicky Kelly from his 12 year service on humanitarian grounds under the 1951 Criminal Justice Act. There was no deal made by Nicky Kelly himself.
On his return home to Arklow in County Wicklow Kelly is welcomed home by his mother Anastasia and is mobbed by the media and onlookers.
Nicky Kelly sees his release as,
A victory for the committee of the campaign, friends and supporters.
He plans to proceed with a civil action against the State for alleged assault and wrongful arrest. Regarding his period of incarceration he says,
I resent the time they took away from me.
Nick Kelly will be looking for an independent public inquiry rather than a judicial public inquiry into his case.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 18 July 1984. The reporter is Mícheál Ó Briain.
