A JOURNALIST from Prestwich, who has campaigned for six years to free a convicted killer, has won an Appeal Court hearing into the "miscarriage of justice".

On Wednesday (Nov 16), the Criminal Case Review Commission agreed to an appeal on behalf of Stephen Downing, jailed 27 years ago for a murder his supporters say he did not commit.

The Commission's verdict, which looks certain to be a prelude to Downing's permanent release, represents a personal triumph for local man Don Hale, whose late parents lived in Lime Grove, Prestwich.

The former Bury Messenger editor is now editor of the Matlock Mercury, based just a few miles from the Peak District town of Bakewell.

He has spent years investigating what he believes to be the travesty of justice which led to 44-year-old Downing being locked away for more than half his life. This week's decision is likely to lead to a compensation payout of more than £1 million.

The story has received massive publicity in the national and international press and Mr Hale has undertaken a number of TV interviews about his campaign. Two documentaries have already been broadcast and a book is planned. According to Mr Hale, whose painstaking investigative work could win him a nomination for Campaigning Journalist of the Year, the entire case is a catalogue of bungled evidence and cover-ups, with the authorities unwilling to re-examine Downing's conviction, despite compelling new information.

Witnesses in the close-knit rural community, including some police officers, have been reluctant to discuss the case, while Mr Hale's persistent enquiries have led to intimidation, death threats and two hit-and-run attempts on his life.

It was in September,1973, that Wendy Sewell (32), an attractive typist, was brutally attacked in a cemetery in Bakewell, Derbyshire. Mrs Sewell, who had a reputation for promiscuity in the district, died three days later.

Downing, then a backward cemetery worker of 17, found the body after returning from a lunch break and was later interrogated by police for nine hours. He was denied the assistance of a solicitor, social worker or parent.

Mr Hale says the teenager was "persuaded" to sign a statement admitting assault. The charge was later changed to murder when Mrs Sewell died.

Downing pleaded "not guilty" at the trial, but was convicted and ordered to be detained "at Her Majesty's Pleasure". Ten years ago he was eligible for parole but the authorities would not release him because he refused to admit his guilt.

Six years ago Mr Hale, with the help of legal experts, took up the case after meeting Downing's parents.

After being given the news that Downing could formally appeal, a delighted Mr Hale commented: "My own inquiries frequently challenged the official conclusions drawn in 1973-74 and provided a wealth of fresh evidence and expert opinion, utilising the latest in forensic and photographic analysis."

Mr Hale's re-examination of crucial evidence, and his questioning of key witnesses not called at the original trial, persuaded the Home Office, and later the Criminal Cases Review Commission, to re-open the case.

A critical new piece of evidence has been provided by modern DNA testing which has shown that fingerprints and fibres on the murder weapon, a pickaxe, were not Downing's.

Said Mr Hale: "We are thrilled, but it has been a long, hard slog for all of us who have worked towards this.

"The evidence, we believe, was overwhelming and I would have been very surprised if the Commission's decision had gone any other way. But we have had disappointments before and with this sort of thing you just never know."