Conor Courtney

Northern Ireland’s High Court recently quashed a 2014 report into a Belfast bombing where the findings of the report inaccurately detailed potential investigative bias. The court rejected an argument that the report, produced by the Historical Enquiries Team (HET), could instead be edited.

Northern Ireland’s High Court has rejected an appeal for contact where it was found that a step-father was not acting in the best interests of a 15-year-old girl. The court noted that the father had initiated contact with the girl, had discussed inappropriate topics, and had abducted the girl

Northern Ireland’s High Court has denied leave to judicially review emergency coronavirus notices which disrupted special needs education access. The court found that the issue had become academic and that judicial review was an improper route, given that there was a statutory complaint proced

Northern Ireland’s High Court has dismissed a claim seeking deletion of records after a mother was incorrectly labelled as responsible for “confirmed neglect” before her son was born. The court found that the records had been correctly rectified and were now accurate, and their dec

Northern Ireland’s High Court has rejected a claim that a Co Down mortgager discharged his debts in full after writing on his redemption letter stating that he had endorsed it. The court found that a promissory note can only extinguish an existing debt if the creditor has agreed to that being

Northern Ireland’s High Court has resolved a dispute as to costs between a Tyrone pig producing company and a Yorkshire-based food production company after 1,233 pigs were billed for, but never delivered. The plaintiff was a company that raises and produces pigs from premises at Sion Mills in

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal where a father claimed that a contact order for his children was "unworkable" and costly. The court found that the trial judge had not erred in making the order. This case involved three appeals, which are part of a long-running family

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has refused leave to appeal against a repossession order. The court found that there was no merit in any of the grounds, which included claims that the debt had been previously discharged, and that the repossession infringed human rights law by exposing the o

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has denied a reduction in sentence for claims about personal mitigating circumstances and delay where the appellant was responsible for an explosion at a police station in 1997. The appellant, Paul Campbell, was unsuccessful in his appeal against conviction f

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has rejected 12 separate grounds of appeal by a murderer who claimed his counsel were dishonest, lacking integrity, and encouraged him to perjure himself. The appellant was unanimously convicted by a jury of murdering his girlfriend Anita Downey in the early

Northern Ireland’s High Court has ruled in favour of an applicant who challenged his parole refusal. The court found that the parole decision failed to appropriately consider and examine license conditions on which the applicant may have been suitable for release. The applicant, a 44-year-old

Northern Ireland’s High Court has dismissed an application for parental responsibility where the father was found to be coercive, and had sexually assaulted the child’s mother while he was in the home. The court did grant an indirect contact order between the father and son, but also gra

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has found that a Hospital Tribunal and a subsequent High Court decision erred in the legal test to be applied for detention of a mentally impaired patient. The court granted the appeal against a decision of Mr Justice Adrian Colton, where it was found that th

Northern Ireland's High Court has upheld the refusal of a parental order for a "vindictive" father who called police on the mother of his 11-year-old son under false pretences. The court found that a County Court judge was right to refuse the application for a parental responsibility order and a dir

Northern Ireland's High Court has refused an application for judicial review into the investigation of the 1972 death of Telford Stuart, a member of a covert security force. The court found that the PSNI was entitled to limit their investigations to Troubles shootings by the Army, rather than cases