Legal first cross-border life sentence quashed
The only person sentenced by a Dublin court for a criminal murder in Northern Ireland has had his conviction quashed.
The Court of Criminal Appeal ordered a retrial for Belfast man Gerard Mackin after ruling that evidence gathered in Belfast had not been properly proven.
Gerard Mackin was jailed for life for the murder of Belfast taxi driver Eddie Burns in 2007.
He was the first person tried in the Republic under cross-border anti-terrorist law.
In another legal first, during the trial, the three judges of the non-jury court travelled to Northern Ireland to hear evidence taken by a Belfast judge.
On Monday the appeal judges ruled that evidence taken in a Belfast court had not been properly proven at the Special Criminal Court.
Gerard Mackin has been remanded in custody.
Mr Mackin, originally from the Whiterock area of west Belfast denied intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Mr O'Neill and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.