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Three men have 1981 murder conviction upheld

BBC Old photos of Eric Cullen, Cyril Cullen, and George Kirkpatrick. Eric has thick brown wavy hair and a goatee, wearing a blue shirt and black tie and jacket. Cyril has big brown curly hair, wearing a back tuxedo with big bow-tie and flower. George has short brown hair, wearing a purple jumper with light blue t-shirt underneath.BBC
Eric Cullen, Cyril Cullen, and George Kirkpatrick were convicted for the murder of 17-year-old Francis Rice in 1981

The convictions of three men, who were jailed for a Troubles murder that they have always denied, have been upheld.

George Kirkpatrick and brothers Eric and Cyril Cullen served 14 years in prison for the murder of catholic teenager Francis Rice in Castlewellan in 1975.

The men, known as the Castlewellan Three, had appealed their convictions after claiming that fresh evidence cast doubt on their guilt.

A three-judge panel at the Court of Appeal ruled on Friday that it was not satisfied that the safety of those convictions had been undermined.

The appeal was dismissed.

Murder of Francis Rice

Black and white image of Francis Rice. He has long thick hair, wearing a shirt and jacket.
Catholic teenager Francis Rice was abducted and stabbed to death in Castlewellan in 1975

Catholic teenager Francis Rice was abducted and stabbed to death. His body was dumped in a laneway.

The killing was claimed by the Protestant Action Force - a cover name for the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).

In 1981, Mr Kirkpatrick and the Cullens received life sentences over the murder although none of them were ever involved with paramilitaries and refused to serve their time on loyalist prison wings.

The judge in the case offered them reduced sentences if they pleaded guilty but they refused.

The only evidence against the trio was their signed confessions which they claimed they were tricked and coerced into making during police interviews.

The judge said he believed in the honesty of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers involved in the case.

Following a BBC Spotlight programme in 2018, which raised serious concerns over the verdict, the Criminal Case Review Commission (CCRC) decided there were grounds to question the safety of the convictions and would reopen the case.

The programme revealed that several officers who interviewed the three men were later discovered to have re-written and lied under oath about police interview notes used in another case, to convict four other men of murder.

Theresa Rice is standing on the street outside court speaking to the media. She's surrounded by people.
Francis Rice's mother, Theresa, says "justice has been done"

Francis Rice's family was in court and applauded when the judgment was delivered.

Speaking outside court, his mother, Theresa, said: "I'm glad that justice has been done."

"Fifty years we have waited for this to get cleared up," she said.

"We knew they were guilty. We knew what they had done, but they kept bringing it up all the time."

Solicitor Kevin Winters said it was "a massive, massive relief" for Mrs Rice and her family.

"This has been a massive battle for Theresa Rice and her family after 50 years to come to court today to get a judgment after all this time," he said.

Pacemaker Eric Cullen, leaving court on FridayPacemaker
Eric Cullen was also in court when the ruling was made

Eric Cullen, the only surviving member of the Castlewellan Three, was also in court when the ruling was made.

His solicitor Michael Madden said Mr Cullen was "disappointed" at the outcome and the full judgement would be considered to "see what other options are available".

The basis of the appeal was that several officers who interviewed the trio were later discovered to have tampered with written evidence and lied under oath in a separate case in which four other men were convicted of murder.

The Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan said that argument failed because the officers in question were not involved in all three of the appellants' cases.

She said it was not a given that a historical conviction is unsafe because some officers involved had been discredited in another case.

Who were the Castlewellan Three?

George Kirkpatrick, pictured in 2018. He has short grey hair and brown eyes, wearing a light blue shirt and glasses. He is sitting on a red sofa with a green and pink crochet blanket over it.
George Kirkpatrick, pictured in 2018, maintained he and Eric and Cyril Cullen were framed for the murder

Cyril Cullen died in 2016 and George Kirkpartick died in 2021.

Eric Cullen is the only surviving member of the Castlewellan Three.

Speaking to BBC Northern Ireland's Spotlight programme in 2018, George Kirkpatrick recalled his police interview.

"They said: 'Well you know why you are here.'

"And I says: 'I have no idea why I am here.'

"He says: 'You are in here for the murder of Francis Rice.' And I think I said to them: 'You have got the wrong man, I had nothing to do with that. Nothing whatsoever.'"

After several days of continuous questioning, Mr Kirkpatrick and the Cullens all signed confessions saying they carried out the murder together.

But all three claimed they had been tricked and coerced into the confessions by detectives.

The confessions were the only evidence against them.

They were all found guilty and served 14 years in prison.