Ruling delayed on 1970 murder

The men were released by the then Home Secretary, William Whitelaw

Three senior judges reserved their ruling on Tuesday in an appeal brought on behalf of two men convicted of murder 32 years ago.

Lord Justice Kennedy, Mr Justice Cresswell and Mr Justice Bennett had been told by the barrister representing relatives of David Cooper and Michael McMahon that this was the sixth time the case - known as the "Luton post office murder" - had been considered by the Court of Appeal.

Ben Emmerson QC told the court: "This appeal represents the final chapter in what can, we submit, fairly be described as one of the longest running and most controversial criminal cases in English legal history."

Cooper, also known as John Disher, and McMahon were convicted in March 1970 of the murder of postmaster Reginald Stevens.

Doubts do not just lurk; from the first they have flown about the case like bats in a belfry

Ben Emmerson QC quoting Lord Devlin

Mr Stevens was shot in a bungled robbery near a Luton post office in September 1969.

Cooper died in July 1995 aged 51 and McMahon, in July 1999, aged 55 of a heart attack.

Their cases have were referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates possible miscarriages of justice.

In 1980, after a number of unsuccessful appeal procedures, the then home secretary, William Whitelaw, ordered the release of both men from their life sentences, but he did not quash their convictions.

Mr Emmerson, representing Cooper's brother Terry Disher and McMahon's widow Susan, told the court "there can be no doubt in our submission that these convictions are now to be regarded as unsafe".

Corrupt detective

He said investigations by solicitors and the CCRC had uncovered a "considerable volume" of fresh evidence.

It cast further doubt on the credibility and reliability of prosecution witnesses and on Detective Chief Superintendent Kenneth Drury, the officer in charge of the murder investigation, the court heard.

Lord Justice Kennedy, Mr Justice Cresswell and Mr Justice Bennett were told that Mr Drury, now dead, was later convicted of corruption.

Mr Emmerson repeated the words of Lord Devlin, who once said of the case: "Doubts do not just lurk; from the first they have flown about the case like bats in a belfry."