Soldier's confession 'unreliable'

Neil Latimer maintains his innocence

A former Ulster Defence Regiment soldier's confessions that he murdered an Armagh man were unreliable, the Appeal Court in Belfast has heard.

Neil Latimer and three other UDR soldiers became known as the 'UDR Four' after they were convicted of the murder of a Catholic man, Adrian Carroll, in 1983.

The other soldiers were subsequently freed on appeal.

However, Latimer, who has maintained his innocence, served 14 years in jail before finally being released in 1998.

Clinical psychologist Professor Gisli Gudjonsson told the Court of Appeal on Tuesday that Latimer's murder confessions were unreliable because he was psychologically vulnerable and easily manipulated at the time.

The witness who claimed to have identified Latimer as the gunman was described by another expert witness as unstable and prone to fantasies more to do with her own wishes than reality.

Lord Alderdice, the former Assembly Speaker who is also a consultant psychiatrist, said those with the more extreme end of Witness A's personality disorder had a propensity to fabricate stories about other people.

"Of course the whole basis of this disorder is to get attention," he said.

Previous appeals

Latimer's two previous appeals against his conviction, in 1988 and 1992, were unsuccessful.

He was the only one of the UDR Four not to be acquitted in 1992.

A distinction had been drawn between his case and the others because of a confession he made to the police and because of the evidence of Witness A.

However, on Monday, the court was told that a new report raised doubts about the reliability of Witness A, and about Latimer's confession.