At his trial, he submitted a defence of incrimination, claiming that the murder was committed by another man, Ian Waddell, but was found guilty.
This trial, and particularly the judge's summing-up, in which he advised the jury that, despite the royal pardon intending that the conviction and all its consequences are wiped out and that persons who receive free pardons are to be regarded as being in the position of having been acquitted at trial, it was his opinion that the original conviction still stood, that the Queen had simply released Meehan from serving his still-standing conviction, and thus Waddell could not be found guilty of a crime for which Meehan was still guilty of; Waddell was acquitted by the jury in December 1976.
[6][7] An inquiry into the miscarriage of justice, held due to public demand, and chaired by Lord Hunter, reported in 1982.
(The last person to be seen with McGuiness while alive, John Winning, was charged with his murder, but the case against him collapsed because of insufficient evidence.
)[6][7] In later years, Meehan put forward elaborate claims that he was framed by intelligence services due to issues concerning the escape of George Blake.
[2] After his death, some elements of his life story were adapted and used by the author Denise Mina (a casual acquaintance) in her 2005 novel The Field of Blood, with the main character a female journalist bearing his name.