Gay rights campaigners have accused the Vatican – which has ordered the disinterment in the first step towards beatification – of attempting to cover up the sexuality of Cardinal John Henry Newman, who died in 1890.

A review of the Newman case was ordered by Chief Justice James Spigelman after Phuong Ngo’s supporters raised three grounds of concern regarding his conviction: concerns about the evidence about mobile phone coverage; doubts about the independence of two witnesses; and the alleged failure to provide certain evidence to Ngo’s defence.