Noye loses appeal over road rage murder

Noye, now 63, was jailed for life at the Old Bailey in 2000 for the fatal stabbing of 21-year-old Stephen Cameron on an M25 slip road at Swanley in Kent in 1996.

In 2001 he lost a conviction challenge and at the Court of Appeal yesterday three judges rejected a new bid to have his conviction overturned.

His appeal was dismissed by Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, sitting with Mr Justice Henriques and Mr Justice Davis.

Noye’s conviction came under scrutiny again following a decision to refer his case to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the independent body which investigates possible miscarriages of justice.

It was argued on his behalf at a recent appeal hearing – watched by Noye via video link from prison – that key prosecution witnesses at his trial had now been “so discredited” that his conviction should be quashed.

At the heart of the challenge, claiming Noye’s conviction was “unsafe”, was the evidence given at trial by the now “discredited” pathologist Michael Heath.

Noye, who fled to Spain after the stabbing but was extradited in 1998, had denied murder on the ground of self-defence.

In their ruling the judges said that what Noye did “was not self-defence”.

Lord Judge said: “Rather it was a gross over-reaction in the context of a fight with an unarmed man, almost certainly consequent on the fact that the appellant was losing it.”

The appeal judges emphasised that “there was no doubt that Mr Cameron was deliberately stabbed by the appellant”.

The judges found that no point raised during the appeal had caused the court to doubt the safety of the conviction.