Judges reject posthumous appeal

Judges reject posthumous appeal

Williams died in prison protesting his innocence

A posthumous appeal brought on behalf of a man who died in prison while serving a life sentence for the murder of his ex-lover, has been rejected.

Harold "Ginger" Williams was jailed in November 1977 for killing Margaret Davies.

He could have walked free on licence 13 years ago but because he had refused to admit his guilt, he was ineligible for release and died in custody in October 2000 at the age of 67.

On Thursday, three judges at the Court of Appeal in London ruled the former coach driver and father-of-three's conviction was "safe".

A miscarriage of justice has been done today and we feel very bitter

Peter Williams

As the appeal was dismissed, a woman in the public gallery shouted out "shame".

Robert Juckes QC had told the appeal hearing on Wednesday new evidence relating to the timings of the sightings of Mrs Davies showed Williams could not have been the person who committed the crime.

However Lord Justice Tuckey, Mr Justice Mitting and Sir Brian Smedley rejected the evidence.

Lord Justice Tuckey said: "In this country we pride ourselves on our system of trial by jury and juries' verdicts should not be lightly set aside.

"The appellant was convicted after a full and fair trial on what was strong circumstantial evidence."

'Clear name'

But Williams's family have vowed to fight on to clear his name.

His brother, Peter, said: "I would like to stress that Harold is definitely not a killer.

"The family knows it and all of Hereford knows it. A miscarriage of justice has been done today and we feel very bitter."

He added: "If there is any question of going further, we will definitely carry Harry's name until he is cleared."

Mrs Davies, 40, the wife of former Hereford rugby captain Robin Davies, was found bound and gagged at her home in Hereford in January 1977. She had been stabbed and strangled.

The original trial jury at Worcester Crown Court heard Williams had lived with her "on and off" for up to 12 months before their relationship ended and had been seen outside the house days before the killing.

Williams was refused leave to appeal against the conviction in 1979 but in August 2000, the Criminal Cases Review Commission decided the case should be referred back to the Court of Appeal.