Free Warren Slaney

On the 10th of Oct. 1990 Warren Slaney was arrested and later charged with the murder of 2 men, Gary Thompson and John Weston, in Oadby, Leicester.

The murders took place at 2am outside the house of Gary & Mavis Thompson. The police suggested that 3 men were directly involved in an armed "robbery" that backfired.

As a result Warren Slaney is now serving life imprisonment for a crime he did not commit.

I N N O C E N T

• Physical descriptions given by eye witnesses do not match Warren Slaney's appearance
  Witness 1 :- that the perpetrators were over 6ft and of the same build as Gary Thompson (about 21st).
  Witness 2 :- that one was 6ft-6ft 1", broad, heavily built, dark tan, big moustache, hat with pony tail.
  

  Warren Slaney is 5ft 8" white, clean shaven and had very short hair. At the time he weighed between 9½-10st.

• 9 witnesses were with Warren at a party till 4.30am on the morning of the murders.
• A crucial prosecution witness testified in court that she had falsified her statement to the police. This statement implicated Warren Slaney directly in the "robbery".
• The man who disposed of the gun admitted that Warren had nothing to do with the murders. This statement was not used in court.
• Warren was accused of firing the Berretta handgun which killed 2 men. The shots fired displayed a great degree of accuracy.Warren had previously suffered hand injuries which resulted in the insertion of metal plates. He would not have been capable of such an act because he would not have been capable of pulling the trigger. This medical evidence was never used by the defence
• there was no forensic evidence to link Warren to the murders although the police searched his home 4 times.

THE TRIAL

Crucial evidence relating to Warren's innocence was not brought up in court by the defence. His solicitor briefed a QC only 2 weeks before the trial. Leaving inadequate time for Warren's defence.

• 8 days of the trial were spent on 3 prosecution witnesses and only 3 hours on the 9 defence witnesses.
• As Paddy Hill said on the release of the 'Bridgewater 4' "...they get a suspect, and what they do is they try to fit the circumstances and evidence of the crime around the suspect.....Every time they do that that is a recipe for disaster."

A CHANCE OF FREEDOM

In August 1995 leave to appeal was sought at Guildhall Middlesex, on the grounds of an "incompetent defence". 2 weeks before the hearing Warren's defence solicitor announced that his papers for the defence had been stolen!

On the day of the hearing the solicitor had to explain in the dock, to 3 appeal judges, why he had neglected to inform anyone of the "theft". They gave the defence 4 weeks to get the papers in order, 9 months later, the solicitor was still unprepared.
In July 1996 the court took just 20 minutes to dismiss the appeal.

All this is no consolation to Warren who has spent the last 7 years rotting in a prison cell, or his family who have had 7 years of intimidation including a number of death threats. Warren has always protested his innocence and 7 years later is fighting on.

THE CAMPAIGN

We are fighting for Warren's case to be returned to the Court of Appeal and demand his subsequent release. We hope to broaden support for the campaign and ask your help in publicising Warren's case.

If you would like more information or feel you can offer
help or resources please contact us.

FREE WARREN CAMPAIGN

PO Box 339,

Wolverhampton,

WV10 7BZ

(or

c/o Dept. Z, Little Thorn Books
13 Biddulph Street,
Leicester LE2 1BH )

Please consider writing to Warren and let him know that you are supporting him. Warren Slaney JB2574, HMP Frankland, Brasside, Durham.DH1 5YD (Remember that all letters are read by prison staff, so don't compromise yourself or Warren)

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