Magherafelt man jailed for shooting dead ex-lover has conviction quashed again

Fred McClenaghan, 54, will now face a further retrial over the killing of Marion Millican in Portstewart, Co Derry.

No further details of the decision reached by the Court of Appeal in Belfast can be reported for legal reasons.

Mrs Millican, a 51-year-old mother of four, was shot in the chest at her workplace in March 2011.

She died at the scene.

The victim had been in a relationship with McClenaghan which ended months before the killing. McClenaghan, formerly of Broad Street in Magherafelt, Co Derry, was found guilty of murdering Mrs Millican following a previous retrial in 2014 and ordered to serve 16 years behind bars.

But after challenging the verdict the Court of Appeal ruled today (Wednesday) that the murder conviction should be quashed. Judges also decided it was in the public interest to order a second retrial on the murder charge.

Lord Justice Gillen then imposed a ban on publishing any further reasons for their decision pending the outcome of the fresh proceedings.