I was wrongfully convicted of killing teen..it still haunts me decades later
Innocent Conmey tells of 40-year battle to clear his name in TV documentary
A MAN who was wrongfully convicted of killing a teenager in an infamous miscarriage of justice has admitted he is haunted by the decades of torture he endured.
Martin Conmey’s nightmare began in October 1971 when his 19-year-old neighbour Una Lynskey went missing in Ratoath, Co Meath.
Her body was subsequently found in the Dublin mountains – and innocent Conmey, then 20, and two of his pals found themselves chief suspects.
After being convicted of manslaughter in 1973, he served three years at Mountjoy prison, crying himself to sleep most nights.
It was only when Conmey saw the Guildford Four being released from prison in 1989 that he plucked up the courage to begin what would be a 25-year campaign to clear his name.
He was vindicated in November 2016 when he received a State apology and an acknowledgement he had been the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
But in a new TG4 documentary tomorrow, in which an emotional Conmey, now in his 60s, revisits the events leading up to his trial and subsequent fight to clear his name, he admits the memories still haunt him.
Holding back the tears, he said: “The hairs stand up on the back of my neck when I think about it. The gates of hell opened and my life was destroyed.”
At the time, Conmey and pals Dick Donnelly, 24, and Marty Kerrigan, 18,
It makes the hairs on my neck stand up. The gates of hell opened, my life was destroyed MARTIN CONMEY
TG4 DOCUMENTARY FINNE
were subjected to intense questioning by gardai with no solicitor present – with both Conmey and Donnelly claiming in the programme they suffered physical and mental abuse in custody.
He explained: “I made statements about something that never happened and that’s how they convicted me. I’d have said anything to get out of that.”
Although Donnelly – who had never signed a statement – successfully appealed his conviction shortly after beginning his sentence, Kerrigan paid a terrible price.
The teenager suffered a brutal death at the hands of three of Una’s relatives, who wrongly believed he was responsible for her killing.
However, Conmey did eventually get justice when new facts came to light in court about original statements from two witnesses that had been withheld from the defence team.
In November 2016, 45 years after Una’s death – a murder which still remains unsolved – the State declared the case a miscarriage of justice.
In the documentary, the Co Meath father of one adds: “I started to cry. I got justice. I know it was 40-odd years too late, but my son can hold his head up and say I was accused in the wrong.
“At least I can leave that legacy – that I fought for justice and got it.”
■ Conmey revisits his wrongful conviction in Finne tomorrow at 9.30pm on TG4.