Vigilante who killed a man he wrongly believed was a paedophile has murder conviction upheld Tristan Kirk
The murder conviction of a former altar boy who carried out the vigilante killing of a man he wrongly believed was a paedophile has been upheld by judges.
Christopher Hunnisett bludgeoned Peter Bick with a hammer and strangled him with a shoelace, just months after being released from prison over another killing.
He was branded an “extremely dangerous man” when he was convicted of murdering Mr Bick in 2012 and sentenced to life in prison.
Court of Appeal judges were asked to review the conviction and consider if Hunnisett was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the attack.
BBC News
By Thomas Mackintosh
image captionAlexandru Stan says he was evicted from his home in Harrow while he was in HMP Wormwood Scrubs
A man cleared of being involved in £26m raids on the luxury homes of three celebrities in west London says he is now sleeping in a car.
Alexandru Stan was acquitted of conspiring to burgle the homes following a high-profile trial.
Watches and jewellery belonging to Frank Lampard and Tamara Ecclestone were among the items taken during a series of burglaries in December 2019.
Mr Stan says the case has left him homeless and he has lost everything .
Call for cases linked to police officers involved in unsafe Michael Devine conviction to be reviewed Michael Devine
Solicitor Joe Rice
A west Belfast man who spent 10 years in jail for offences he did not commit has called for other cases linked to the police officers involved in his conviction to be reviewed.
In 1981 Mr Devine was found guilty of 10 charges, which also included conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and wounding with intent.
Some of the alleged offences related to a gun attack on a policeman in Belfast in October 1978.
He was given a 20-year sentence, half of which he served in prison.
By Press Association 2021
Barrister
The conviction of a Belfast man for terrorism offences 40 years ago has been quashed by the Court of Appeal after it was found to be unsafe.
Michael Devine was charged with attempted murder as well as firearms and terrorism offences.
He pleaded not guilty at trial in 1981 but was convicted and sentenced to 20 years at the former Maze Prison on the outskirts of Lisburn, Co Antrim.
The conviction was recently referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
In a judgment delivered on Thursday morning, the reasons for quashing the conviction were set out.
BBC News
Published
image captionJack Whomes was jailed for life in 1998 for the Essex Boys murders
A triple killer convicted of the notorious Essex Boys farmland murders is to be released from jail.
Jack Whomes, 59, was given a life sentence in 1998 for the execution of three men whose Range Rover had been ambushed in Rettendon in December 1995.
He maintains his innocence and in 2018 saw his minimum term cut from 25 to just over 22 years for exemplary behaviour behind bars.
A Parole Board spokesman confirmed a panel had directed Whomes release.
In one of Britain s most notorious gangland killings, drug smuggler Whomes was convicted of shooting three men in a row over drugs.