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Vital new witness supports prisoner Breaking
By Brendan Anderson
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04/07/96
THE DRAMATIC discovery of a new eyewitness yesterday has sent hopes soaring for the retrial of a Belfast man serving 14 years for possessing a bomb. Christy Walsh, 33, from Broadway , Falls Road, now beginning his sixth year of imprisonment , was convicted of possessing a coffee jar bomb in June 1991. In a surprise move which could provide the key to a retrial, a west Belfast man contacted the Irish News after reading an account earlier this week of Mr Walsh's arrest. Mr Walsh, a painter and decorator and former member of Amnesty International , has fought a long-running campaign to prove his innocence , claiming police interrogation notes were altered and sections of trial transcripts have gone missing . But now lawyers believe the evidence of the previously unknown 28-year-old witness will be enough for Northern Ireland Secretary of State Sir Patrick Mayhew to send Mr Walsh's case back to the courts. The prisoner 's legal team has been seeking a "third man" who passed the scene seconds before a British paratrooper stopped Mr Walsh. At his trial and appeal Mr Walsh claimed he had been stopped in an alley by a single soldier who had spotted the coffee jar device sitting on a low wall. It is believed the new witness can not only confirm the existence of the third man, but can also back up the prisoner 's claim of being stopped by one soldier. During the hearings , the soldier, a member of the Parachute regiment, maintained that a colleague was present. It now appears that new evidence provided by the previously unknown witness will substantiate Mr Walsh's claim. The man, an unemployed chef, said he could not get Mr Walsh off his mind after reading about his plight in an Irish News article on Monday. He has asked not to be identified until he and a friend give statements to the prisoner 's legal team later today. "When I read that article, and read about the incident in the alley, I realised I was there," he said. He said it was only when he heard that someone was charged with an explosives offence in the
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area that he realised he had witnessed the suspect's arrest in the alley. The witness said he had no reason to come forward at that time, not realising the significance of what he had seen. Later, after Mr Walsh's conviction , he still did not come forward "because I thought he was guilty. I had no reason to believe otherwise. I did not think what I had seen was important . "It was only when I read the article that I realised it could be important . It all came back to me. I thought about it all day and all night and decided to try to do something about it," he said. Christy Walsh, who contacted the Irish News last night, said he was "greatly encouraged " by the discovery of the new witness. "It's the breakthrough I have been waiting for. I have fought my case for five years and have never once given up. This is a big moment. "All I want is to get back into the court to prove my case and to prove my innocence ," he said. Meanwhile , Kevin Winters, of Madden and Finucane Solicitors, confirmed he is seeking a judicial review of a decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions not to disclose papers , including the allegedly missing documents.
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