Former Irish rugby international has child sex abuse convictions quashed

Senior judges confirmed the outcome following a hearing at the Court of Appeal in Belfast on Tuesday. With the issue of a possible retrial still to be decided, no further details can be given for legal reasons.

Tweed, 57, is set to be released from custody where he has been serving an eight-year prison sentence. The one-time elected councillor, from Clonavon Terrace in Ballymena, hugged relatives after the verdict was delivered.

In 2012 a jury had found him guilty of 13 counts of indecent assault, gross indecency with a child and inciting gross indecency with a child.

But following submissions by his legal team, Lord Justice Gillen confirmed: “We are going to quash the convictions in this matter. We will give our reasons in writing for doing so shortly.”

Tweed was capped four times for Ireland after making his international debut against France in the 1995 Five Nations.

A former member of the Orange Order, he served as a councillor in Ballymena for the DUP and later the TUV.

Dressed in a dark suit, stripped shirt and blue tie, he was brought into court by prison guards.

But at the end of the case, Lord Justice Gillen said: “There’s no reason why he shouldn’t be free as soon as possible.”