Daughter must wait for pardon decision on killer

A DAUGHTER hoping to see her father posthumously pardoned for a double murder has been told she will have to wait at least another year for a decision on the case.

Tina Harris was just a little girl when her father, Alfred Moore, was hanged for shooting two policemen outside his farm in Kirkheaton, Huddersfield in July 1951.

Moore, a poultry farmer and prolific burglar, always denied his involvement, saying he was in bed with his wife Alice at the time, but he was convicted by a jury and hanged in 1952.

Doubts about the conviction have lingered for years and in 2006 the evidence was re-examined by two retired detectives during an unofficial re-investigation which raised fresh doubts.

Last July, former West Yorkshire detective Steve Lawson presented a large dossier of evidence to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which looks at suspected miscarriages of justice.

A year on, the CCRC says there could be a provisional decision on the case by July 2011 – the 60th anniversary of the shootings.

In a letter to Mr Lawson, the CCRC warns that cuts in public expenditure could cause further delays in evaluating the case and that July 2011 is an estimate.

Yesterday Tina Harris, now 67 and living in Surrey, said she was trying to get on with life and not think too much about the case.

“We are playing a waiting game. Causing yourself anxiety is not going to make it happen any quicker,” she said.

“We are hoping and praying that the outcome is going to be good. Just the fact that they are looking at it is a good thing, it is something that we never thought would happen.”

Mr Lawson said that the volume of information was one factor in the lengthy timescale.

“I think anybody who has read the file will see that we have completely demolished the case against Moore. Another year down the line and we are still waiting. Who knows who is going to be here in 12 months?

“The CCRC has acknowledged there are flaws or anomalies in the case and it’s going to take time – that’s a positive. The negative is the timescale.”