Christy Lynch, a brother of O'Reilly's mother, was 26 when he confessed to the murder of Vera Cooney in Sandymount, Dublin, in September 1976. He was twice convicted of the murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, but the Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 1980 because detectives had interviewed him for 22 hours straight and denied him sleep or legal advice.

O'Reilly's mother Ann is understood to see many parallels between the two cases. Following her son's murder conviction, she told the media that this was the second injustice suffered by a member of her family.

Joe O'Reilly (35) is convinced he will eventually be acquitted of his wife's murder and lodged his appeal papers last week.

Sources say that when he realised he was the chief suspect in Rachel's murder, he told friends he would not be "stitched up like my uncle Christy". Lynch, now 57, lives with his family in England.