The Court of Criminal Appeal has set aside the convictions of two Dublin brothers for the murder of a man four years ago and ordered a retrial.
Warren and Jeffrey Dumbrell were found guilty in 2008 of the murder of father-of-six Christopher Cawley on 29 October, 2006.
This morning, the appeal court ruled that their application to have those convictions declared unsafe was well-founded.
Giving the court's judgment, Chief Justice John Murray said the applicants had submitted that statements made by the trial judge, Mr Justice Paul Carney, at the time of the trial but at a different venue, coupled with the ensuing publicity and particular circumstances of the case were such that there was a real risk that the jury had been prejudiced and the verdicts must be considered unsafe.
Mr Justice Murray said the court had decided that the Dumbrells' application was well-founded and set aside the convictions and ordered a retrial.
Lawyers for the Dumbrells had argued that a speech given by Mr Justice Carney at the law faculty in University College Cork, which contained references to the level of fatal stabbings and the sentences for manslaughter, was prejudicial.
