Trainee solicitor given review

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/8478860.stm

Version 0 of 1.

A trainee solicitor excluded from attending a murder inquiry interview has won permission to challenge the police's decision.

Paul Campbell was told he could not accompany his master during questioning of a woman being held over a killing in Newry.

Mr Campbell launched legal proceedings arguing that the refusal was unreasonable and unlawful.

The judge ruled that the case had raised issues of importance.

The case centres on the questioning of an 18-year-old woman about the murder of Polish man Marek Muszynski.

She was brought to the custody suite at Antrim PSNI station after the 40-year-old victim's body was discovered in the centre of Newry last July.

Importance

For part of their training, solicitors shadow a fully qualified member of the profession, who is known as their master.

Mr Campbell, a pupil to solicitor Paul Fitzsimons, accompanied his master during four interviews with the suspect, who was later released without charge, before he was then denied access to a fifth session.

It was claimed that a custody sergeant refused to let him attend because, as an unqualified lawyer, he was not entitled to be present under Police and Criminal Evidence Act regulations.

But Mr Campbell, who is due to qualify later this year, argued there was a legal entitlement for him to be there as part of his legal training.

Ruling on the application for leave to seek a judicial review, the judge said: "I'm satisfied that out of what has the hallmarks of an isolated dispute, issues of some potential importance arise."

The case will now proceed to a full hearing in March.