WRITER Mel Shepherd has forged an unlikely alliance with a convicted killer.

In his quest for new material, the former colliery shaft sinker is delving into the art of murder.

And it has led to a link with Clare Barstow (pictured), who was languishing in the dreaded H Wing at Durham Jail.

There she counts the passing minutes, months and years alongside some of the most hated women in Britain. And there, where she was conveyed after her conviction for murder in 1992, the former journalist turned to scriptwriting.

Mel, who runs Leigh's Time Dream Theatre, came to her attention through a magazine. And, for the last six months, they have kept in touch by letter and telephone.

"I am not on a crusade for her release," insists Mel. "She says she was wrongly convicted and has now been transferred to Holloway for her appeal.

"But she has writing talent and it is on that basis that we have come together."

Their strange union has produced two plays - The Condemned Man, telling of the first man to be hanged on the resumption of the death penalty, and Beyond a New Horizon, concentrating on a young girl, abused as a child, who finally turns on her tormentor with fatal consequences.

"We are hoping both plays will be produced for the 1997 Edinburgh Festival," said Mel.

Since her conviction for killing the woman for whom she was working, Clare, 34, who hails from Ramsgate, has written seven plays.

Two, The Lady And The Gypsy and Biting Back were performed at Holloway for inmates and invited guests, and she has won several awards for her behind-bars writing.

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