Convicted killer Nunn refused leave to reopen case
CONVICTED killer Kevin Nunn had his bid to re-open his case turned down by top judges today.
Nunn, of Woolpit, whose family have spent tens of thousands battling to clear his name, was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend Dawn Walker, 39, in November 2006 and is serving a minimum 22-year sentence.
Ms Walker’s defiled body was found near the River Lark, in Suffolk, in February 2005, but Nunn, now 50, has always protested his innocence, claiming there was no forensic evidence linking him to the crime.
Court of Appeal judges rejected his conviction challenge in October 2007, but his 76-year-old father, Horace, a retired lorry driver, has never given up the fight to exonerate him, ploughing his £50,000 savings into his quest.
In London’s High Court Nunn’s QC, Hugh Southey, challenged a refusal by the Chief Constable of Suffolk and Crown Prosecution Service to allow his legal team to re-examine forensic evidence.
Mr Southey said semen discovered on Ms Walker’s body could not be attributed to Nunn as he had had a vasectomy.
He wanted Nunn’s own forensic scientists to re-analyse the evidence to see if they might find a new match for the semen traces, and so achieve a major breakthrough.
However, Sir John Thomas, sitting with Mr Justice Haddon-Cave in the High Court, today threw out Nunn’s legal challenge, saying none of the arguments advanced ‘cast doubt on the safety of his conviction’.
“What is essentially sought by the claimant is access to material to enable the case to be re-investigated and re-examined. The time for the investigation and examination was the trial.”
Sir John said Ms Walker, from Fornham St Martin, and Nunn had broken off a two-year relationship on February 2, 2005.
Nunn claimed the split was amicable, but the judge said a number of neighbours ‘heard sounds of argument coming from the direction of her home’ the night before she disappeared.
The prosecution claimed Nunn killed Ms Walker after their row. At trial, Nunn claimed the killer was another man with whom Ms Walker had been involved.
Nunn’s sister Brigitte Butcher said outside court: “If I thought for one moment he was guilty I wouldn’t be doing this”.
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Saturday 18 May 2013
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