Brian McNally, wrongfully jailed for 1976 Sallins train robbery, dies at 83

Brian McNally, one of three men wrongfully convicted for the Sallins train robbery, died Saturday aged 83. He campaigned until his death for a public inquiry and State apology.

Sallins man dies without State apology after 50-year justice campaign

Brian McNally, one of three men wrongfully convicted for the 1976 Sallins train robbery, died on Saturday aged 83, surrounded by his family, the Irish Times reports.

McNally spent nearly five decades campaigning for a public inquiry and a formal State apology — a campaign that remained unsuccessful at the time of his death.

He was falsely accused, wrongly convicted and imprisoned alongside Nicky Kelly and Osgur Breatnach for a robbery in which an estimated £200,000 was stolen near the Co Kildare town. The Special Criminal Court admitted as evidence confessions that all three men insisted had been beaten out of them by gardaí.

McNally was sentenced to nine years' penal servitude following his wrongful conviction. He and Breatnach were released from prison in 1980 after the appeal court quashed their convictions, ruling that the confessions had been obtained under "oppression". Kelly, who had fled to the United States and was convicted in absentia to 12 years, received a presidential pardon in 1992. The IRA claimed responsibility for the robbery that same year.

"Up to his death, he campaigned for an independent public inquiry into the torture and framing of himself and the other Sallins men and to expose the ongoing state cover-up," the Sallins Inquiry Now campaign said in a statement on social media.

Breatnach, now 75, said McNally had spent the "best part of 50 years" dealing with "trauma" while also driving the campaign for accountability. "The ongoing callousness of the State in colluding in the Sallins Case cover-up inflicts cruel and unusual punishment on the Sallins men, their families and cuts deep trauma into Irish society," he said.

Despite the sustained campaigning, Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan stated in March that he was "satisfied that a public inquiry in relation to these matters is not warranted", with his department noting that convictions had been overturned and financial settlements had been paid.

Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy expressed condolences and said it was "deeply regrettable" that the State had not delivered "truth and justice" for McNally before his death. Carthy commended McNally's "long fight for justice and truth" and acknowledged the "tenacity and determination" of Breatnach, who was informed this week that the State will not oppose his bid to have his wrongful conviction formally declared a miscarriage of justice.

Kelly, speaking to the Irish Times from an assisted-living apartment earlier this year, said: "I would hate to die in a hospital bed and the cover-up having succeeded."

Source: Irish Times