14 May 1996

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Howard admission indicative of entire legal apparatus

Sinn Fein's Vice President, Pat Doherty, has described the admission by Michael Howard that forensic evidence used to secure convictions in at least 12 cases was contaminated by Semtex in a laboratory as ``indicative of the entire legal apparatus used against Irish people to secure convictions in British courts''.

Mr Doherty said:

``It seems incredible that the same method of forensic testing can be used for seven years without it being scrutinised. Michael Howards admission that these cases go back over seven years also raises the question of how long did the British government know that evidence in these cases was false?

``The whole history of convictions in British jails is littered with miscarriages of justice involving Irish people. This admission is indicative of an entire legal apparatus used against Irish people to secure convictions in British courts.''

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