13 May 2020
Former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has won a Supreme Court case to erase two historic convictions for trying to escape from the Maze Prison on Christmas Eve in 1973 and again in 1974
Adams was one of about 2,000 people interned in Ireland by the British government during this time.
In a unanimous
decision, R v Adams (Northern Ireland) [2020] UKSC 19, the court held
the convictions were unsafe because the interim custody order to detain him was
not properly authorised by the then Home Secretary, Willie Whitelaw. It
concluded that parliament intended the power to detain to be exercised by the
Secretary of State personally. As Whitelaw did not personally consider Adams’
detention, the order was invalid and his convictions should be quashed.
Delivering the
judgment, Lord Kerr said: ‘Mr Adams’ detention was unlawful, hence his
convictions of attempting to escape from lawful custody were, likewise,
unlawful.’
