Gun murder man Paul Cleeland loses judicial review

Paul Cleeland has been fighting to clear his name for decades

A man who has spent more than four decades trying to clear his name of a murder he says he did not commit has lost his latest High Court legal bid.

Paul Cleeland, 76, from Kent, served 26 years behind bars for Terry Clarke's murder in Hertfordshire in 1972.

He sought a judicial review of a Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) move not to refer his case to appeal.

Lord Justice Simon and Mrs Justice Farbey dismissed the bid and said the CCRC's conclusions were sufficient.

The CCRC said it was not appropriate to comment.

Terry Clarke was killed after he returned home from a bar

Suspected gangland boss Mr Clarke was shot twice in Stevenage after returning home from a bar, but Cleeland always insisted he was at home with his wife.

In the latest proceedings, Cleeland compared his case to that of Barry George, who was cleared of Jill Dando's murder after doubt was cast on the reliability of gunshot residue evidence.

His defence team also produced a report by independent expert Dudley Gibbs concluding there was "a high probability that the murder weapon was different from the one cited" in the original trial.

Lord Justice Simon said while firearms residue analysis had developed considerably since 1973, the Barry George decision did "not throw significant light on the issue".

He said the CCRC had no time to respond to Mr Gibbs's report and refused an application to include it, adding: "If there was substance in the point as a matter of scientific analysis, which we doubt, it could and should have been raised long ago."

Paul Cleeland represented himself and ran his own legal defence in 1973

Cleeland, of Folkestone, dismissed his barrister at the latest hearing and has repeatedly done so over the years.

"The reason I have represented myself is I have been seeking the truth," he said.

He claimed it was not in any lawyers' interest to uncover an alleged miscarriage of justice.

Cleeland claimed the ruling conflicted with arguments in the Barry George appeal, where Lord Justice Simon was present as a judge, and said he planned to apply to the Supreme Court.

He said he only found out the day before the judicial review that the presiding judge was Lord Justice Simon which increased his concerns on the day.

Paul Cleeland was 30 when he was jailed