Galway Bay fm newsroom - The Court of Appeal has overturned a decision to strike out Galway resident Peter Pringle's damages claim against the State over his conviction and the 15-years he spent behind bars for crimes he did not commit.
Mr Pringle was convicted of the murders of two Gardai John Morley and Henry Byrne during a bank robbery in Ballaghadreen, in Roscommon in July 1980.
He was released from prison after his convictions were deemed unsafe and quashed in 1995.
The High Court had struck out a damage claim he brought over his conviction and lengthy incarceration on the grounds of inordinate and inexcusable delay in progressing his claim.
In a lengthy and detailed judgement, a three-judge court overturned that decision, on the basis that a key legal issue in the case that needed to be determined had not been addressed.
The COA remitted the case back to High Court for a fresh consideration.
Mr Pringle who is based in Glenicmurrin in Costelloe in county Galway was sentenced to death in 1981 for the murder of the gardai.
In proceedings brought against the State he claims the State was negligent and breached his constitutional rights because crucial evidence was not disclosed to him prior to his trial before the Special Criminal Court, where he was convicted of the Garda's murders.
After his death sentence was commuted to 40 years in jail, he served 14 years and 10 months in prison, before the then Court of Criminal Appeal in 1995 found his convictions to be unsafe and unsatisfactory.
Two other men were convicted of the murders and were released from prison in 2013.
