9.In 1998, Mr Iain Hay Gordon, against whom a jury had returned a verdict of guilty but insane when he was tried in Northern Ireland in 1953 for murder, made an application to the Commission to have his case referred to the Court of Appeal.  Section 14(3) of the 1995 Act provides for the Commission to refer to the Court of Appeal any point on which they desire its opinion in considering whether to make a reference.  Under this provision, the Commission referred to the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland the issue of whether they had the power to make the reference sought by Mr Gordon.  On 30 June 1998, the Court held that section 10(6) of the 1995 Act did not allow the Commission to refer the verdict of guilty but insane.  Their reasoning would also have led the Court to reach that conclusion in respect of section 9(5), which applies to England and Wales.
Background Recent developments