PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 28135/95) against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland lodged with the European Commission of Human Rights (“the Commission”) under former Article 25 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by an Irish citizen, Mr Gerard Magee (“the applicant”), on 22 May 1992.

The applicant, who was granted legal aid, was represented by Madden and Finucane, a firm of solicitors practising in Belfast. The Government of the United Kingdom (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr C. Whomersley, of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London.

The applicant alleged, inter alia, that he was ill-treated while in detention and that he was denied a fair trial.

The application was transmitted to the Court on 1 November 1998, when Protocol No. 11 to the Convention came into force (Article 5 § 2 of Protocol No. 11).

The application was allocated to the Third Section of the Court (Rule 52 § 1 of the Rules of Court).

By a decision of 14 September 1999, the Chamber declared the application partly admissible.

The applicant and the Government each filed observations on the merits (Rule 59 § 1). The Chamber having decided, after consulting the parties, that no hearing on the merits was required (Rule 59 § 2 in fine), the parties replied in writing to each other's observations.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

On 16 December 1988, early in the morning, the applicant was arrested at his home under section 12 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 1984 (“the 1984 Act”) in connection with an attempted bomb attack on military personnel. The applicant was taken to Castlereagh police station. He claims that on arrival he immediately requested to see his solicitor. Access was delayed pursuant to section 15 of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1987 (“the 1987 Act”). At 9.15 a.m. the applicant was examined by a doctor who advised him that if he had any complaints to make he should tell the doctor when he made his round the following morning. The applicant was cautioned pursuant to Article 3 of the Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1988 (“the 1988 Order”). Unfamiliar with this new law, the applicant again requested a consultation with a lawyer and this request was refused.

On the same day the applicant was interviewed five times by two teams of two detectives. These interviews took place between 10.55 a.m. and 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., 7.35 p.m. and 9.30 p.m., and 9.30 p.m. and 12 midnight.

At 8.21 a.m. on 17 December 1988, the applicant complained to the same doctor he had seen the day before of ill-treatment during the second and third interviews on the previous day. The doctor recorded in his notes that the applicant had alleged that he had been repeatedly slapped and occasionally punched in the back of the head during the second and third interviews and that he had been punched a few times in the stomach. The doctor gave the applicant two tablets (a mild analgesic) and prescribed four such tablets a day if required. Pursuant to this complaint, at 9.15 a.m. a police inspector visited the applicant's cell and took note of the applicant's complaints.

Subsequently, the applicant's sixth, seventh and eighth interviews took place between 9.30 a.m. and 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 4.20 p.m., and 7.30 p.m. and 12 midnight. During the sixth interview the applicant broke his silence and gave detailed answers to a number of questions admitting to his involvement in the assembly and planting of the bomb. During the seventh interview the applicant signed a lengthy statement which described in considerable detail his part in the conspiracy to plant and detonate the bomb.

At 8.28 a.m. on 18 December 1988, the applicant was visited by the same doctor who asked the applicant if he had any further allegations of ill-treatment and the applicant replied that he had not. The applicant was then interviewed about another matter between 10 a.m. and 12.45 p.m. At 1 p.m. the applicant was allowed to consult with his solicitor, who made notes on the applicant's allegations of ill-treatment. The solicitor chose not to pass these complaints on to the police. The applicant was then interviewed for the last time between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. about an unrelated matter. The applicant was medically examined that evening at 8.20 p.m. by another doctor whose notes indicated that the applicant had made “no allegations of ill-treatment since he had been last seen by a doctor”. That doctor also noted that there was no sign of injuries.

On 19 December 1988 the applicant was taken to another police station where he was given a medical examination by another doctor. That doctor's note records the applicant's detailed allegations of assaults and ill-treatment which allegedly took place on 16 December 1988. No objective evidence of injury was noted.

On 19 December 1988 the applicant, along with others, was charged at Belfast Magistrates' Court with conspiracy to cause explosions, possession of explosives with intent, conspiracy to murder and membership of the Irish Republican Army.

On 3 March 1989 the applicant, through his solicitor, made an official written statement to the Complaints and Discipline Branch of the Royal Ulster Constabulary complaining about his ill-treatment by one team of two detectives while at Castlereagh police station.

On 17 September 1990 the trial of the applicant and his co-accused began at Belfast Crown Court before a single judge sitting without a jury. The applicant pleaded not guilty. The prosecution case was based on the admissions made by the applicant in interview and, in particular, the written statements signed by him.

On 3 October 1990, when the prosecution were about to lead evidence based on the applicant's admissions and statement made during questioning, the applicant applied under section 8 of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1978 (as amended) to have the admissions and statement made during questioning excluded on the basis of his alleged ill-treatment. A voir dire (submissions on a point of law in the absence of the jury) began and the applicant gave evidence as to his treatment, particularly by one team of two detectives during interviews nos. 2, 4 and 6 while in Castlereagh police station. Electrostatic Document Analysis (“ESDA”) evidence was also led which the applicant submitted demonstrated glaring defects in the authentication of the interview notes which recorded his responses to the detectives' questions. All the relevant witnesses, including the applicant, the police officers alleged to have been involved in the ill-treatment and the doctors who had seen the applicant, gave evidence. The voir dire ended on 23 October 1990 when the trial judge rejected the application, admitted the applicant's admissions and statement into evidence and adjourned his detailed judgment in these respects.

The applicant did not subsequently give evidence at the trial. However, the trial judge cautioned the applicant, pursuant to Article 4 of the 1988 Order, as regards adverse inferences which could be drawn from this failure to give evidence.

On 21 December 1990 the trial judge gave judgment.

He first outlined his detailed reasoning behind his decision further to the voir dire. He noted that the only evidence against the applicant was the admissions and statement made while in custody at Castlereagh police station and that there was no forensic evidence against him. However, it was also noted that the applicant's admissions and statement were entirely consistent with the evidence presented in relation to others charged (and later convicted) with offences arising out of the same incident. The trial judge summarised the applicant's evidence of ill-treatment and this summary was later accepted on appeal by the applicant as constituting an accurate account of his evidence in this respect.

The trial judge then commented on that evidence. He noted, inter alia, that the applicant did not mention the names of or attempt to describe the two detectives in respect of whom he complained to the doctor on the morning of 17 December 1988; that the applicant had not mentioned to the doctor on that morning the “cigarette treatment”, which the applicant had submitted during the voir dire was the treatment which frightened him most; that there were inconsistencies in the accounts of ill-treatment given by the applicant to the doctor on that morning and his evidence at trial; that not one single objective sign of the ill-treatment which the applicant alleged was found by any of the doctors who examined the applicant; and that on the morning of 18 December 1990, the applicant did not make any complaint about ill-treatment despite the fact that he claimed he had suffered the worst treatment of all during the previous day.

Although there had been a period when the monitoring screens (which relayed pictures from cameras in the interview rooms to a central control room) had not been monitored by the duty inspector on that Saturday morning, the trial judge found that this did not coincide with the applicant's evidence as to when he was ill-treated on that day and the trial judge found it impossible to accept that ill-treatment of the nature alleged by the applicant could have gone on without it being picked up by the cameras in the room where the applicant was questioned. On the question of general credibility the judge found that the applicant had repeatedly lied to the court, whereas the detectives involved were not at all shaken by a rigorous cross-examination in their firm denials of the allegations made by the applicant. As to the ESDA evidence, the trial judge found that it did not substantiate the applicant's submission as to the lack of authenticity of the interview notes.

Accordingly, the trial judge rejected the applicant's allegations of ill-treatment and found that there was no reason to exclude the applicant's admissions or statement made during his detention in Castlereagh police station. As to the probative value of the applicant's statement, the trial judge found that it was sufficiently detailed to establish the several charges against the applicant and that he was fully entitled to convict the applicant on that basis. On 11 January 1991 the applicant was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment.

On 8 February 1993 the applicant's appeal against conviction, challenging the trial judge's conclusions as to the allegations of ill-treatment and as to the ESDA evidence, was heard by the Court of Appeal of Northern Ireland. That court noted that in such cases the question to be answered is whether the court is satisfied that it is not a reasonable possibility that the accused was ill-treated. It noted, inter alia, that the trial judge had had the great advantage of seeing the applicant give evidence, that both an accused and the police officers involved can equally have an incentive to lie and that many facts are capable of being looked at in two or more ways, but they must be considered sensibly and realistically. Having reviewed the applicant's evidence and the trial judge's conclusions in that respect, that court concluded that it was satisfied that the applicant had not been ill-treated and that his conviction was neither unsafe nor unsatisfactory. Accordingly, on 16 June 1993 the applicant's appeal was rejected.

On 17 December 1993 the applicant's appeal against his sentence was rejected.