Networked Knowledge - Media Report

[This edited version of the report has been prepared by Dr Robert N Moles]

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On 11 April 2008 Tim Booler of the Sunderland Echo reported “Killers lose bid to clear names”.

He said, two men convicted of a notorious gangland killing today vowed to take their bid to clear their names to Europe. Michael Luvaglio and Dennis Stafford, given life 41 years ago for the murder that inspired cult film Get Carter, yesterday failed to convince High Court judges they were victims of a miscarriage of justice. The pair, in their 70s, were convicted of murdering money collector Angus Sibbett, who was gunned down and put in the back of his Jaguar under Pesspool Bridge, in South Hetton. Luvaglio and Stafford were released from prison in 1979, but are still battling to prove they were wrongly convicted.

At London's High Court yesterday, Stafford failed in his bid to challenge the Criminal Cases Review Commission's (CCRC) refusal last June, to refer his case back to the Court of Appeal. After the ruling, Luvaglio stood up at the back of the court and said: "I'm innocent." Stafford's solicitor, Michael Purdon, said later: "Naturally, we are disappointed, but we are now considering making an application to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. "We will not give up until this miscarriage of justice is put right."

Stafford had argued the original trial – labelled the One-Armed Bandit Murder – had been "totally unfair", and that Mr Justice O'Connor's summing up to the jury had been "biased, erroneous and prejudicial" in favour of the prosecution. But at the High Court, Mr Justice Maddison said the CCRC had thoroughly considered the detailed evidence in the case, in a decision running to more than 100 pages, before concluding there was no reasonable prospect of a successful appeal. Dismissing the judicial review challenge, Mr Justice Maddison concluded: "It is impossible to say that the Commission acted unreasonably or adopted an unlawful approach in this matter."

The murder of Mr Sibbett laid the foundation for the novel Jack's Return Home, by Ted Lewis, which was later turned into the film Get Carter, starring Michael Caine. Luvaglio, Stafford and Sibbett had moved up from London in the mid-1960s to work for Luvaglio's older brother Vince, who supplied fruit machines to pubs and clubs from his Sunderland-based company Social Club Services. Mr Sibbett was found dead in his car on January 5, 1967, having been shot in the body three times.

Both Luvaglio and Stafford, now living in Stanhope Castle, Weardale, put forward alibi defences at their trial but were convicted. Each served 12 years before being released on licence. Their cases had already been considered by the House of Lords and twice by the Court of Appeal, where judges commented on the strength of the prosecution case against the pair.

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