In 2002, the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal made an exception to who could avail of the right to a fair trial in "R v Walsh": ""... if a defendant has been denied a fair trial it will almost be inevitable that the conviction will be regarded unsafe, the present case in our view constitutes an exception to the general rule. ... the conviction is to be regarded as safe, even if a breach of Article 6(1) were held to have occurred in the present case."" (See Christy Walsh (Case).)