Lawyers for Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy claim a “fatal” finding of fact was made during his trial that was in total contradiction of the evidence.

The 66-year-old, who was described as a “good republican” by Gerry Adams after being jailed for tax evasion is appealing his conviction and sentence.

John Kearney QC has been putting forward his reasons for challenging his conviction and the 18 month sentence handed down in February.

Among them his claim that the circumstantial evidence given by a retired worker at the Department of Agriculture in relation to his client signing an application form for a herd number in front of him, couldn’t have been further from the truth and shouldn’t have featured in the judge's deliberations.

Thomas Murphy was found guilty of evading tax between 1996 and 2004.

He claimed he’d nothing to do with the running of his farm at Hackballscross, Co. Louth and accused his brother Patrick of identity theft.

Mr. Kearney has been pulling apart the 10-page judgement handed down by the Special Criminal Court last December. The case was “document heavy” he said, and with 48 grounds of appeal, is likely to take up most of the court’s time this week.

Our Courts Correspondent Frank Greaney reports: