Neighbour killer goes to appeal court

A man who killed his neighbour during a row over a barking puppy is to have his case heard at the Court of Appeal.

Nicholas Farnell, 41, was jailed for life in 1996 for murdering William Pottage, his 56-year-old neighbour in Elgar Walk, Waterlooville, Hampshire.

Farnell admitted the killing but his defence was that he had been suffering from an "abnormality of mind".

Mr Farnell's application for leave to appeal against his conviction was refused by the Court of Appeal on 19 June 1996.

He first applied to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) for a review of his case on 24 June 1997.

On Monday, the Commission confirmed it had referred his conviction to the Court of Appeal.

Grounds for referral

In April 2003, two High Court judges ordered that the Criminal Cases Review Commission should reconsider its 2002 decision not to refer the case to the Court of Appeal.

Mr Justice Mitchell said the trial jury should have been told that "provocation" was an issue in the case, on which a verdict of manslaughter could have been found.

The judge said the jury were given a "half-hearted" direction on provocation.

The jury was never invited to consider evidence of Farnell, a roofer, suffering from a depressive illness and its relevance to the issue of provocation.