The Court of Criminal Appeal has quashed the conviction of a Meath man for the manslaughter of a young woman 40 years ago.
Martin Conmey, 59, from Porterstown Lane in Ratoath served three years in prison for the manslaughter of 19-year-old Una Lynskey in 1971.
Ms Lynskey vanished on 12 October while on her way home from work. Her body was found in December that year in the Dublin mountains.
Mr Conmey and another man, Dick Donnelly, were convicted of her manslaughter in 1972.
Mr Donnelly's conviction was overturned on appeal a year later.
A third man, Martin Kerrigan, had also been suspected of being involved in the crime but he was abducted and killed a short time after her body was discovered.
Mr Conmey's legal team claimed 'newly discovered facts' proved he was not responsible for Ms Lynskey's death.
The Court of Criminal Appeal found that statements made by three witnesses were not disclosed to the defence and should have been.
The court found that gardaí took witness statements from three men and then returned a number of days later to take further statements, which were different from the originals.
Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman said why they did this and why the statements changed was unexplained.
The only surviving witness, Sean Reilly, said he had been severely pressurised into changing his original statement and had been physically assaulted by gardaí.
Afterwards, Mr Conmey said he was shocked and very emotional.
He said his faith in the justice system had been restored and he thanked his wife and son for their support and belief in him.
Lawyers for Mr Conmey said they would be seeking a declaration that there had been a miscarriage of justice as well as costs when the case comes before the Court of Criminal Appeal again.
