Driver wins 40 year battle to clear name

Senior judges quashed Frank Newell’s conviction based on the non-disclosure of crucial material that undermined the prosecution case.

Mr Newell was sentenced to four years for the robbery in Lisburn, in August 1973.

Mr Newell, 73, from Shankill Road, Belfast, had his jail term doubled when a first appeal was thrown out.

But he continued to protest his innocence, insisting that his car was hijacked by thieves who took £3,000 in the robbery which was linked to the UVF.