PADDY JACKSON 'CONCERNED' OVER TV DRAMA OF THE BELFAST RAPE TRIAL

The solicitor for rugby player Paddy Jackson has expressed concern that they haven't been consulted regarding an upcoming television series about the 2018 Belfast rape trial.

Over six years have passed since Jackson and fellow rugby star Stuart Olding were found not guilty of raping a young woman after a night out.

It's been revealed the case will be the subject of a new six-episode drama which is currently in production.

The programme, titled #IBelieveHer, has a production budget of more than €9million and is scheduled for completion next year.

Promotional material for the series says that the show will challenge 'our perceptions about the Belfast rugby rape trial of 2018'.

It is understood that the driving force behind the series is Mary McGuckian, the award-winning Northern Irish director best known for her biopic of the famous architect and designer Eileen Gray.

Director Kirsten Sheridan, daughter of filmmaker Jim Sheridan, has also been involved in the project, but it is not known if she is still working on the production. The promotional material reads: 'A courtroom drama based on trial transcripts and public domain reports; this sixpart drama series explores the entire spectrum of rape myth culture as we follow the complainant's journey through the criminal justice system under the full glare of media attention attracted by the defendant's sporting notoriety.'

However, Mr Jackson's solicitor Kevin Winters, of KRW Law, said that he is 'concerned' about the lack of information that he has received regarding the TV programme's creation.

'Any drama based on a high-profile trial that is made collaboratively with all parties has to be welcomed,' he said in a statement to the Irish Independent.

'As long as the outworkings of any such production are consistent with the innocence of those accused, then we don't have a problem. Indeed, we would really welcome that.

'There needs to be engagement with the complainant and witnesses as well. Given the huge sensitivities around this case, that should be taken as a given.

'However, I'm concerned we are off to a bad start as I've no information at all that anyone has been contacted about this. We will take steps now to address that information deficit.'

Iris Productions, a Luxembourg-based co-producer on the series, stated on its website that the show's producers include Ms McGuckian, Pembridge Pictures (IE), Katy Jackson, Wee Buns Films (IE), Nicolas Steil and Katarzyna Ozga. The Belfast rugby rape trial sparked nationwide debates about consent and how those making accusations of sexual abuse are treated after they report their allegations.

Jackson, now aged 32, and his then Ulster team-mate Olding, now 31, had always denied raping the same woman at a house in south Belfast in June 2016.

Both men were found not guilty following the trial, while Blane McIlroy, then aged 26, was cleared of exposure, and Rory Harrison, then aged 25, was acquitted of perverting the course of justice and withholding information.

Jackson and Olding were subsequently sacked by Ulster and Ireland amid controversy over a series of explicit WhatsApp messages that were revealed during the trial.

The rugby players claimed that the failed prosecution had caused them serious financial hardship and limited their earning potential in the future.

Lawyers for the pair insisted that their prosecution was not warranted, alleging multiple failings in the police and the Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service's handling of the case.

Both men are now playing for clubs in France.