Woolf to hear Tony Martin's appeal
An appeal by jailed farmer Tony Martin is due to start in July, his solicitor said today.
Martin, 56, was given a life sentence last year for shooting dead teenage burglar Fred Barras at his remote Norfolk farm.
The appeal against conviction is due to start at the Court of Appeal on July 16 and is listed for three days.
It will be heard by Lord Chief Justice Woolf.
Jurors at Norwich Crown Court on April 19 last year, found Martin guilty of murder by a 10-2 majority after hearing how he shot the 16-year-old with a pump-action shotgun at Bleak House, Emneth Hungate.
He was also given a 10-year sentence for wounding Barras’s accomplice Brendon Fearon, now 30, with intent to cause him bodily harm after shooting him in the leg on the night of August 20 1999.
Martin, serving his sentence in Gartree Prison, Leicestershire, is also appealing against the conviction for wounding Fearon.
He was cleared of the attempted murder of Fearon.
Solicitor James Saunders said the case put forward by Martin’s legal team will use evidence available at the original trial which was not heard by the jury, and
‘‘major’’ new scientific and medical evidence.
Mr Saunders, who is leading Martin’s legal team, said: ‘‘The bottom line is if the jury had heard all the evidence which is relevant to the issues of the case he should have been acquitted.
‘‘Our case is that this was a case of lawful self-defence and we believe that the new evidence would have helped a jury see that, and without it we can see how they did come to the wrong conclusion.’’
Martin will be represented by Michael Wolkind QC at the appeal
Mr Saunders said: ‘‘The Lord Chief Justice is the most senior criminal lawyer in the land so we have got the best.’’
