SENTENCE ON JAILED CLUB OWNER OVERTURNED

THE DPP has cleared the way for a court to quash the conviction of a former
nightclub owner jailed for knowingly permitting his club to be used for the
sale of drugs.

The Court of Criminal Appeal was told yesterday that the DPP was not
opposing the appeal on the grounds of allegations against a member of the
Garda in Co Donegal.

Frank Shortt, responding to the decision, said justice had been done.

Mr Shortt, a father of five, would not comment on the role of the gardai.
He said he and his family had "suffered greatly at the hands of the
establishment".

"Our good name was rubbished" and his nightclub had been burned to the
ground, he said. "Thankfully, justice has finally been achieved."

Mr Shortt was charged with the drug offences in 1995 relating to his club
The Point Inn at Quigley's Point, Inishowen.

After an eight-day trial, he was convicted, sentenced to three years'
imprisonment and fined pounds 10,000. He was released from prison in 1998.

Miriam Reynolds SC, for the DPP, told the court yesterday that the DPP
would not be seeking a retrial in relation to Mr Shortt, of Redcastle, Co
Donegal, because Mr Shortt had already served a three-year sentence.

The case of Mr Shortt is understood to have been one of the matters
investigated by a Garda team headed by Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty.
Mr Carty has conducted an investigation lasting almost a year into
incidents, dating back to the mid-1990s, of alleged corruption by gardai in
Donegal.

Mr Shortt's case was before the court yesterday on foot of a motion for
discovery of certain documents which Mr Shortt was seeking for his appeal.
Those documents include certain diaries, details of which were not
specified in court.

Ms Reynolds said the DPP would not be resisting the grounds on which the
application was based and would be asking the CCA to allow the appeal on
grounds of an allegation against a member of the Garda.

Counsel stressed these were "only allegations" and were the subject of a
report sent by the DPP who might deliberate whether action should be taken.
She said there are allegations in existence and these were among the
grounds on which the appeal was brought to set aside the decision of the
jury in the Shortt case.

The DPP was not resisting the appeal on grounds of "new and developing"
factors which were not in existence at the time the trial was being
conducted, counsel said. She added these "new and developing" factors were
allegations only.

Eoin McGonigal SC, for Mr Shortt, said the most important thing was that
the DPP was consenting to the conviction of his client being set aside.
There remained a question whether the court should certify a miscarriage of
justice and that could only be done if all the documents were before the
court. It would probably require discovery to enable the matter be fully
put before the court. He proposed an adjournment.

Mr Justice Murray said the court would adjourn the motion for discovery to
January 29.