Police murder conviction appeal: `Real killer made me keep silent` at 1989 trial

The killer of an heroic off-duty officer is making a fresh courtroom bid to “clear his name” claiming he was intimidated from giving evidence in his defence.

James Francis Hurley, who spent 13 years on the run after being sentenced to life for the murder of Police Constable Frank Mason in 1988, is now attempting to have his conviction quashed.

Hurley pleaded guilty to robbery but denied murder and told London`s Appeal Court he was made to keep quiet by Charles McGhee, who he claimed pulled the trigger.

The 54-year-old said he now feels safe to try to clear his name as McGhee died in prison in 2009.

His barrister Joel Bennathan QC is asking the court to overturn the verdict.

Hurley, from Luton, was the getaway driver in the £100,000 armed robbery of a security van outside Barclays bank in Hemel Hempstead on April 14, 1988.

The plan began to go tragically wrong when off duty PC Mason, a former local newspaper reporter, tried to intervene and was shot in the back at point blank range with a Colt .45 handgun.

PC Mason, 27 and four years into his career with Hertfordshire Constabulary, died of his injuries and was posthumously awarded the Queen`s Gallantry Medal for his bravery.

At the 1989 Southwark Crown Court murder trial, Michael Kalisher QC said that PC Mason saw the robbery taking place and “with considerable courage, because he must have seen they were armed, decided to tackle the parties”.

Hurley was convicted of the murder along with McGhee and Perrie Wharrie and the three were jailed for life.

Hurley claims he was not aware a gun would be used and had nothing to do with the murder.

The Appeal Court heard this week from Hurley and nine other prisoners or ex-prisoners who said McGhee, who died in prison, had admitted Hurley had “not known that guns – or tools – were to be carried in the robbery”.

Hurley claims he did not speak up during his original trial because he was told not to by McGhee, who was described by witnesses as “powerful within the prison system”, a “maniac” and “a volatile person who you would not want to cross”.

Mr Bennathan said the court “may be reluctant to disturb so serious a conviction so many years later” but “fresh evidence makes clear that Charles McGhee threatened Mr Hurley to prevent him from giving evidence in his own defence”.

He said: “It is submitted that the combination of all the material that is now before the court is so powerful and raises such doubt as to Mr Hurley being guilty of murder that this application and appeal should be allowed.”

On February 16, 1994, while Hurley was being transferred to Wandsworth prison by bus, he and another prisoner threatened an officer with a knife and Hurley managed to escape.

Despite a £30,000 reward for his recapture, Hurley`s life on the run lasted 13 years.

It came to an end when a raid by Dutch police saw him arrested in The Hague on November 19, 2007.

He gave a false name but fingerprints and DNA on a police database meant officers could identify him.

After serving four years of a six-year sentence imposed for the possession of Class A drugs, he was returned to the UK on November 16, 2011. He served another four years of his ten-year `life` sentence.

McGee died behind bars but Wharrie is due to be extradited back to the UK after he completes a 30-year sentence for trying to smuggle 1.5 tonnes of cocaine into the Republic of Ireland.

His jailing came just over three years after he was released on licence in the UK after serving 18 years for the murder of PC Mason.

He is not due for release from his Irish sentence until at least 2030.

A memorial to PC Mason now stands in Bank Court, Hemel Hempstead. It was placed there through the Police Memorial Trust.

Every year the Hemel Hempstead community comes together to remember the officer and Hertfordshire Constabulary presents an award in his honour.

The case continues.