Lawyers apply for retrial in Massereene barracks murder case
Prosecutors in the North have applied to the Court of Appeal in Belfast to retry a man whose convictions for murdering two British soldiers were quashed.
The court yesterday ruled that the convictions against Brian Shivers for the 2009 murders of sappers Mark Quinsey, 23, and Patrick Azimkar, 21, outside Massereene army barracks in Antrim were unsafe.
Lawyers for the 47-year-old, from Magherafelt, Co Derry, will now make submissions to the court before the appeal judges ultimately decide if a retrial will proceed.
Crown barrister Terence Mooney said Shivers still had a case to answer.
He told the three appeal court judges: “We submit it’s in the interest of justice that you may order a new trial.”
Shivers was in court for today’s hearing.
The English soldiers were gunned down as they collected pizza outside the gates of the barracks. They were hours away from deploying to Afghanistan.
The Real IRA claimed the shootings.
High-profile republican Colin Duffy, from Lurgan, Co Armagh, was acquitted of the murder charges at the same trial that saw Shivers convicted at Antrim Crown Court last year.
Shivers, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, was ordered to serve at least 25 years by trial judge Justice Antony Hart.
His appeal against additional convictions on six counts of attempted murder and one of possession of two firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life was also allowed by the Court of Appeal yesterday.
