Family of Robert Darby insist Jason Moore did not stab him to death as they campaign for his release, branding the conviction an ‘insult to reason and fairness’
The family of a man stabbed to death 20 years ago have said the “wrong man is in prison” for his murder.
Jason Moore is serving a life sentence for the 2005 knifing of Robert Darby in Ilford, East London. But Robert’s family insist Moore did not commit the crime. The Criminal Cases Review Commission is understood to be considering whether the case should be referred to the Court of Appeal. Mr Moore’s sister Kirstie Moore claims a key witness, who originally said they saw the murder, now says they did not.
On Monday, Robert’s family wrote an open letter to the CCRC, the Prime Minister and the Justice Secretary and said: “This conviction is an insult to reason and fairness, and every day the Criminal Cases Review Commission delays action deepens this failure. Jason Moore continues to suffer in prison for Robert’s death – a crime someone else committed.”
The letter, written on behalf of the family by Robert’s brother Tim, added: “The CCRC has already failed once, and this cannot happen again. Recent cases have exposed serious flaws in the system, and Jason Moore cannot be another victim of its failures.” It comes after the chair of the CCRC, Helen Pitcher, resigned last week in the wake of criticism over failings in the case of Andrew Malkinson which saw him spend 17 years in jail for a rape he did not commit. Moore was given a life sentence with a minimum of 18 years.
Moore, now 54, admitted Robert, 42, had threatened him and that he had been at the car park of the Valentine pub in Gants Hill, Ilford, at the time of the murder. But he insisted he was in a car when the stabbing took place. After the trial, Tim, 64, teamed up with Kirstie, 52, as she started gathering information. Moore’s case was rejected by the Court of Appeal in 2017 and the Criminal Case Review Commission refused to reconsider his conviction in 2023.
Now a witness to the killing has admitted he had been drinking at the time of the incident, Kirstie says. The witness picked Moore out of a photo ID parade seven years after the murder, in 2012. But he claims he told police he had been drinking when he saw the stabbing, the Romford Recorder has reported. This was never mentioned in court or disclosed to the defence, Moore’s legal team insist.
Kirstie said previously: “For the past nine years, my brother has been locked up for a crime he did not commit. There was no forensic or CCTV evidence indicating Jason’s guilt. All the police had was an unreliable eyewitness whose patchy account of what happened outside the Valentine in Perth Road on August 24, 2005, was riven with confusion and contradictions.” It has also emerged that a pathologist whose findings were presented in court had been struck off for “serious misconduct” before the trial began. The jury was not told of this.
Tim told the Mirror last year: “The killer’s still out there – walking around knowing he did it.” The Met Police said: “We will assess any new information. This investigation remains closed, but should circumstances change we will assess them.” Moore’s co-accused, Martin Power, 47 at the time, was acquitted.
