Mother of murdered teenager welcomes killers’ failure to overturn convictions

The mother of a teenager murdered 50 years ago has welcomed a court decision to uphold the convictions of three men found guilty of the crime.

The Court of Appeal on Friday upheld the historical convictions of the three men found guilty of the murder of Francis Rice in Castlewellan, Co Down, in 1975.

The court examined the safety of the convictions of George Kirkpatrick and brothers Eric and Cyril Cullen – known as the Castlewellan Three – after a referral from the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Eric Cullen is the only one of the three still alive but the families of the other two men secured permission to pursue appeals on their behalf.

Catholic teenager Francis, who was 17, was abducted and stabbed to death in Castlewellan in May 1975.

An application on behalf of the Castlewellan Three, who were each handed life sentences, was made to the Criminal Cases Review Commission in 2022.

The commission then referred the case to the Court of Appeal in Belfast.

The sole evidence against the men in their 1981 trial was signed confession statements made to the police.

However, Kirkpatrick and Eric Cullen claimed the admissions had been concocted by the police and they had signed them not knowing what they contained while Cyril Cullen claimed he was coerced into signing a confession through police intimidation and threats.

The appeal highlighted that several police officers involved in investigating the case, and conducting some of the admission interviews, were later criticised in a different court case for fabricating and concocting statements.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal on Friday. The three judges emphasised that an historical conviction is not unsafe just because the case involved some police officers who were later discredited in another case.

Outside court, Francis Rice’s mother Theresa welcomed the ruling.

“I’m glad justice has been done,” she told reporters.

“It has been 50 years we have waited for this – to get this cleared up.

“We knew they were guilty. We knew what they had done but they kept bringing it up all the time.”

Michael Madden, a solicitor representing Eric Cullen, said he and the families of the other convicted men were disappointed.

“Eric and the rest of the Cullen family and the Kirkpatrick family are very disappointed obviously with today’s judgment,” he told the BBC.

“The families and Eric have maintained their innocence for over 30 years. They still maintain their innocence and we’re going to consider the full judgment.”

He said they would now look at what other options might be available.