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A man jailed for life for the murder of a British soldier in Londonderry during the Troubles has had his appeal against conviction dismissed.

John McDevitt was convicted of the murder of Private Neil Clark on Easter Monday in 1984, as well as associated firearm offences.

His conviction was referred back to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which had raised concerns about the credibility of two police officers who had interviewed McDevitt.

However, in a judgment delivered by a panel of three Appeal Court judges, Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan said McDevitt had been “by his own admission involved in a serious planned attack on Army personnel”.

Dame Siobhan said the case referred to a “co-ordinated petrol bomb and firearms attack” in Derry in April 1984 on an Army patrol.

Pte Clark was in one of two Army Land Rovers that crashed after they were attacked with petrol bombs.

He and two other soldiers were fired on as they tried to escape their vehicle.

The Lady Chief Justice said McDevitt, who served roughly 10 years in prison, had admitted petrol bomb offences but maintained his innocence over the murder and firearms offences.

She told the court the CCRC referral was based on the grounds of concerns over the “credibility and conduct” of two interviewing officers who had taken statements from McDevitt.

The Lady Chief Justice said the prosecution case was that McDevitt was guilty of murder as an “aider and abettor” in that he had driven the gunman to and from the scene of the shooting.

The case against him was founded on admissions he made to police ahead of his original trial in 1986, she said.

Dame Siobhan said McDevitt had told a number of “significant lies” during his police interviews.

She said: “What is clear is that the appellant provided repeated and detailed false accounts without any pressure being applied on him of his own accord.”

The judgment said the CCRC had gone “too far” in suggesting that because there were concerns in a separate case about the integrity of two officers who interviewed McDevitt, it undermined the safety of his conviction.

Dame Siobhan said: “Each case must turn on its own facts.”

She said there was “no question” of falsification or fabrication of McDevitt’s interviews.

She added: “The reality is that the appellant admitted his role in the petrol bombing, which was serious enough in itself.

“Also, we note that the appellant was not rushed into the fourth statement, as the interviews were paused overnight and he obtained legal advice.

“We find no merit in the argument that the appellant was swayed by inducements, given the seriousness of this offending.”

She said the presence of officers who were criticised in another judgment “does not automatically result in a conviction being quashed”.

The panel of judges also rejected other grounds of appeal, not relied on by the CCRC, including claims of fresh evidence, new expert statements and McDevitt’s continued denials of guilt.

The Lady Chief Justice concluded: “The appellant was by his own admission involved in a serious planned attack on Army personnel.”

She said the appeal “must fail on its facts”.