A Havering man appeared on stage in front of hundreds of people last week to call for his brother’s convicted killer to be freed from prison.
Tim Darby told a campaign event at O’Neill’s in Leytonstone High Road that he believed an innocent man was in jail for murdering his brother Robert.
He has joined forces with the family of the convicted killer – Jason Moore – in a bid to clear his name.
Robert Darby, 42, died after being stabbed in the heart outside the Valentine pub in Perth Road, Ilford, in August 2005.
In the weeks before his death, he had been harassing Mr Moore in the mistaken belief that Mr Moore was dating his ex-girlfriend.
Mr Moore, from Canary Wharf, was charged with murder after an eyewitness – who had rejected Mr Moore as a suspect weeks after the stabbing and identified somebody else as the killer – changed his mind seven years after the crime.
In the absence of any DNA linking him to the stabbing, Mr Moore was convicted at the Old Bailey in 2013 and sentenced to life with a minimum of 18 years.
“He’s not a villain,” said Mr Darby. “He don’t get involved in things like that. He’s a straight goer.
“We knew straight away that he wasn’t involved, after the court case.”
Mr Darby commissioned two retired Metropolitan Police detectives to reinvestigate the case, who concluded that Mr Moore was innocent.
But, Mr Moore’s sister Kirstie told the crowd: “The establishment is broken. We cannot get through it.”
Other speakers last Saturday, November 26, included bestselling author Linda Calvey, who spent 18 years in prison for a murder she insists she did not commit.
“There’s got to be justice for Tim’s family and for Kirstie’s family,” she said. “We have got to get Jason home.”
The CPS said Mr Moore had been convicted at trial and his 2017 appeal had been refused.
The Met Police Service said its case was closed but it would review any new information brought to its attention.
The killing of Robert Darby is the subject of an upcoming true crime podcast series produced by Newsquest.
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