15 YEARS IN JAIL AND STILL "NO RUSH" TO REVIEW CASE

While whoever is guilty goes free

Campaigners who say a Leicester man was wrongly jailed for the city's so-called hot-dog murders are holding an event to highlight his case on Tuesday. It coincides with the 15th birthday that Warren Slaney has spent in prison. The Miscarriage of Justice Association, (Mojo) are releasing 15 balloons, one to mark each year of his imprisonment.

Slaney was jailed for the murders of Gary Thompson, and his employee John Weston. He was refused leave to appeal but continues to protest his innocence. Mojo is calling for independent investigators to be appointed to look at his case.

The murders came in the summer of 1990, while the so called "hot-dog wars" reached their height, as traders fought over lucrative pitches. It ended with the murder of Mr Thompson , known as Hot Dog King, and one of his workers.

Although an appeal into Slaney's case has been turned down, his supporters are still waiting for a review into fresh evidence, submitted a year ago. Russ Spring from Mojo said: "We feel that the scale of the inquiry that is needed into his conviction really is beyond the scope of the Criminal Case Review Commission and they need to appoint an independent outside investigators.

More here

Background to the case (From here)

* Physical descriptions given by eye witnesses do not match Warren Slaney's appearance
Witness 1 :- that the perpetrators were over 6ft and of the same build as Gary Thompson (about 21st).
Witness 2 :- that one was 6ft-6ft 1", broad, heavily built, dark tan, big moustache, hat with pony tail.
Warren Slaney is 5ft 8" white, clean shaven and had very short hair. At the time he weighed between 9«-10st.

* 9 witnesses were with Warren at a party till 4.30am on the morning of the murders.

* A crucial prosecution witness testified in court that she had falsified her statement to the police. This statement implicated Warren Slaney directly in the "robbery".

* The man who disposed of the gun admitted that Warren had nothing to do with the murders. This statement was not used in court.

* Warren was accused of firing the Berretta handgun which killed 2 men. The shots fired displayed a great degree of accuracy.Warren had previously suffered hand injuries which resulted in the insertion of metal plates. He would not have been capable of such an act because he would not have been capable of pulling the trigger. This medical evidence was never used by the defence

* there was no forensic evidence to link Warren to the murders although the police searched his home 4 times....


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