Conviction Unsafe As Guard
Suffered Stress
The
following article was printed on 24 December 2004 in various Greater
Manchester newspapers.
Conviction unsafe as guard suffered stress
FRESH evidence showing that Graham Huckerby was suffering from "post
traumatic stress disorder" at the time of the robbery threw serious
doubt on the safety of his conviction, according to the Court of Appeal.
The gang who carried out the gunpoint raid in Salford in July 1995 were never
caught, but Mr Huckerby, who was guarding the van at the time, was jailed
along with James Power, for assisting the robbers.
On Tuesday judges sitting at London's Court of Appeal declared the
convictions of both men "unsafe".
Mr Huckerby was jailed for 14 years in April 2002, and Mr Power, of Hornby
Street, Bury, received the same sentence. He was said to have recruited Mr
Huckerby to the team and been his handler.
Both men denied any involvement in the robbery, and said they were merely
drinking partners.
Lord Justice Potter, sitting with Mr Justice Butterfield and Mr Justice
Tugendhat, said fresh evidence which showed Mr Huckerby was suffering from
"Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" (PTSD), "acute stress
disorder" and "severe depressive reaction" at the time of the
robbery threw serious doubt on the safety of his conviction.
The case against him was so inextricably linked to Mr Power's, that the
second man's conviction must also be quashed.
It was the Crown's case that Mr Huckerby's failure to activate alarm
mechanisms in the truck on July 3, 1995 showed it was an inside job.
But, said, Lord Justice Potter, the fresh evidence suggested Mr Huckerby was
still suffering mental scars from a violent robbery a year earlier when his
workmate was stabbed, and that could explain why he did not sound the alarm.
If the jury at his trial had been presented with the evidence, said the
judge, they may have reached different verdicts.
The judge added that at the time of the robbery Mr Huckerby had a gun held to
his head and was scared that if he made a move to trigger a tracking device
he would be shot.
The robbers later chained him to a fence in Hope Street, Salford, after
hi-jacking the van at a sorting office and taking most of its contents.
Describing the case against Mr Huckerby as "entirely
circumstantial", Lord Justice Potter added one of the principle
arguments the Crown had relied on was a series of payments made into his bank
account in the months after the robbery.
But, said the judge, the cash deposits totalled £2,500 over the period of a
year following the robbery, when the raid had netted £4.25 million in cash.
And he added the biggest payment of £600 turned out to have been from
Huckerby's mother.
Greater Manchester Police said it would study the findings of the court in
detail.
Supt David Brown said: "We will be reviewing the judgement and we will
take counsel's advice. The matter will be discussed in detail with the Crown
Prosecution Service prior to any decision being taken as to whether to apply
for a re-trial. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this
stage."
A campaigner for Mr Power, Scott Lomax, said: "They may have to face
another trial but they have the freedom they rightly deserve and it is difficult
to comprehend how any jury could now convict when there is no real evidence
against either man. Both Shay and Graham are innocent. By granting Shay and
Graham their freedom the appeal judges have helped end this nightmare once
and for all."
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