Woman jailed over 1974 IRA murder of soldier in Londonderry to have conviction quashed

Senior judges held that 67-year-old Pauline McLaughlin’s low IQ raised doubts about the reliability of alleged admissions to offences linked to the IRA killing of Lieutenant Michael Simpson.

Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan cited new evidence that interviewing police officers had shown her photographs of corpses as a possible form of psychological pressure.

“The safeguards needed to protect against unfairness were not applied in this case to a young woman who was illiterate and operating at the level of a young child,” she stated.

Lieutenant Simpson was shot dead while on patrol in the Shantallow area of Londonderry in October 1974.

A second soldier was also wounded in the IRA sniper attack.

Aged 17 at the time of the shootings, McLaughlin allegedly admitted transporting the rifle to the house used as a firing point and returning the weapon afterwards.

She was also prosecuted over separate bombing incidents at a factory and a warehouse in the city in October 1974 and September 1975.

The case against her was based on admissions that she had used a revolver to hold up staff while devices were planted at both premises.

In 1978 McLaughlin was convicted of eight offences, including the murder of Lieutenant Simpson, the attempted murder of his colleague, causing an explosion and belonging to the IRA.

By that stage three men had already been jailed for their roles in the terrorist killing.

McLaughlin was sentenced to detention at the Secretary of State’s pleasure, but released in 1981 on medical grounds.

Her appeal against the convictions was based on fresh evidence which became available during a re-examination by a body set up to look into potential miscarriages of justice.

Issues were raised about McLaughlin’s intellectual capacity at the time of her arrest.

Defence lawyers claimed her legal representatives at the original trial did not act in accordance with instructions, failing to deploy available evidence of her illiteracy and alleged police ill-treatment.

It was contended that she had been convicted without properly scrutinising the reliability of statements of admission or assessing the required criminal intent to commit the offences.

The court heard a clinical psychologist concluded before her trial that she was in a “high grade mentally subnormal category”.

It was also accepted that McLaughlin was shown at least one photograph of a corpse during police questioning.

Ruling on the appeal, Dame Siobhan identified “stark and exceptional circumstances” related to the defendant’s mental age and intellectual capacity at the time.

“This evidence raises a valid query as to her reliability in terms of standards prevailing in 1977 never mind 2024,” the Lady Chief Justice said.

“This was a vulnerable young woman, with an IQ of 64 in the learning disability bracket.

The prosecution was clearly alive to the issue. Yet there were no safeguards provided to protect her including access to a lawyer and an appropriate adult.”

Dealing with the improper conduct of officers by showing an image of a dead body to a vulnerable woman, Dame Siobhan suggested defence lawyers could have claimed she had been subjected to psychological pressure if they had known about it.

“Furthermore, if the trial judge had been aware of this, we consider there is a real possibility that he would have taken a different course in the case as he would have been slow to conclude that the confession was reliable,” she added.

The Lady Chief Justice confirmed: “Accordingly, we cannot be satisfied as to the safety of these convictions… and we will quash (them).”