In the third instalment of its exclusive re-investigation of Jason Moore's 2013 murder conviction, Newsquest's Investigations Unit interviews a potentially crucial witness who never gave evidence at the Old Bailey.
Campaigners say jurors in an East End murder trial never saw or heard important evidence which undermined the case against the prime suspect.
Jason Moore is nine years into a life sentence for murdering Robert Darby in 2005, after he appeared to accept that he had been wearing a blue jacket on the day of the killing.
Two eyewitnesses had testified that they saw a man in a blue jacket have a physical altercation with Robert outside the Valentine pub in Gants Hill.
But police files, CCTV footage and a witness who never testified at trial all suggest that Jason was not wearing a blue jacket – and the authorities already knew that long before his trial.
Jason told Newsquest’s Investigations Unit that he felt “completely tricked”.
The witnesses
On the day he was stabbed, two eyewitnesses saw Robert, from the Isle of Dogs, standing in the carriageway of Perth Road, Ilford, with two other men.
Both witnesses said that the taller of the two men had a brief physical altercation with Robert.
We reported last week both witnesses described this man as being around Robert’s height (5’11”) or shorter, whereas Jason is 6’4”, and neither described him as having long, dark hair, which Jason had at the time.
CATCH-UP:
- Part 1 - East End Killing: Is an innocent man doing life for a murder he didn't commit?
- Part 2 - East End Killing: 'My brother is doing life thanks to an ID parade which should never have happened'
But prosecutors did not only rely on physical descriptions of the alleged assailant – they also relied on descriptions of his clothing.
Both witnesses said the man wore a blue, zip-up sports jacket.
Jason appeared to concede at trial that that was what he had been wearing.
The trial
At the Old Bailey in 2013, Jason was shown CCTV stills – which the prosecutor admitted were unclear – and was asked whether he was wearing a blue jacket.
“You won’t see that in the photograph, Mr Moore, but it was a dark blue, zip-up top, wasn’t it?” he was asked.
“I assume so,” Jason replied. “I don’t know.”
Later, the prosecutor put it to him again.
“You wearing your blue, zip-up jacket and standing next to Martin Power – you are noticeably bigger than him, aren’t you?” he was asked.
“Yes,” Jason replied.
“Big mistake”
Jason told Newsquest in late 2021 that he had made “a very big mistake” at trial.
He assumed that if the prosecutors kept saying he was wearing a blue jacket, they must have known it to be true.
“I just couldn’t remember,” he said. "In the [police] interview I’m not admitting to any tops. I kept on saying, ‘I can’t remember’.”
“I probably have put my foot in it,” he said of his testimony. “I was completely tricked. I’m annoyed at myself because I shouldn’t have answered it because I wasn’t sure.
“You know, you’re talking about years and years later. I don’t even know how I’m supposed to remember these things.”
Family's evidence discovery
Years later, when Jason’s family acquired his case files, they found evidence suggesting the authorities knew all along that Jason was not wearing a blue jacket.
A report written in May 2013 by the CCTV officer in his case said: “He’s wearing grey tracksuit bottoms, dark sports top with an apparent stripe on sleeve and dark coloured training shoes.”
The campaigners also found clear, colour CCTV showing Jason’s clothing in detail.
“I just couldn’t believe my eyes,” said Jason’s ex-partner Sandra Dumont, one of the leaders of the Free Jason Moore campaign, which is also supported by Robert Darby’s family.
Filmed in his Canary Wharf apartment block as he left home on the morning of Robert’s killing, Jason wore a dark grey or black hooded sweatshirt with no zip and a large pouch/pocket across the midriff.
Jason was captured on CCTV again later that day, after Robert was injured, at the Fairlop Oak pub in Ilford.
Whilst black and white and of poorer quality, it shows him still wearing a hoodie with no zip.
Another witness
But if police did not trust that grainy CCTV, they also had an eyewitness – one whose statement was buried in a stack of “unused material” among the thousands of pages of disclosure in Jason’s case.
In early 2023, Newsquest interviewed her.
Abbie McCann knew Jason only superficially. They drank in the same bars and he had briefly dated one of her friends.
Asked to describe Jason, Abbie told Newsquest: “Oh God, taller than me – so at least 6’4”, maybe 6’6”, dark, sort of long-ish hair. Big built. I’m 6’1” and I remember I always had to look up to talk to him.”
She actually knew Robert much better than Jason. He had helped look after her when she was the victim of a home invasion.
“I’ll never forget what he done for me when I got burgled,” she said. “Rob really did have a lovely side to him.”
If she had any loyalty to anybody, she said, it was to Robert, not to Jason. She has spent years believing Jason is guilty.
But, she told Newsquest: “I spoke to my mum. She was like, ‘Could you imagine if he’s been sentenced and he’s done all this time and he’s actually innocent? If you can help in some way, that’s brilliant, but if it does turn out that he’s done it, at least you know that you’ve not let someone innocent rot in jail’.”
Strange behaviour
Abbie said she specifically remembered August 24, 2005, because it was the day she returned home from a holiday in Cocoa Beach, Florida.
She arrived home and went straight out to meet a friend at the Fairlop Oak, where she saw Jason.
“He was always really smartly dressed,” she said. “Even if he wore jeans, he was always smart. And I remember being taken aback.
“I remember walking out of the pub and having to do a quick flashback, because he just didn’t look smart like he normally did. He was in a tracksuit, which I’ve never seen him in before, and his hair wasn’t all smart.”
In her police statement, written in September 2005, Abbie said: “He was wearing dark blue jogging bottoms, grey sweatshirt which had blue piping and lettering or logo on the front.”
She told the police he had been acting “strangely”.
“He wanted to get away from me,” she explained to Newsquest. “He was polite and spoke to me, but you know when you can see someone just wants to get away?”
Missing CCTV?
Abbie told police in 2013 that she did not want to give evidence in court – particularly after they mentioned that she could be escorted by armed officers if she wanted. That only made her more fearful, she said.
But she had always been wary of getting involved, even back in 2005.
“When the police first contacted me, I denied ever being there,” she said. “You just wouldn’t want to get involved in a murder case, would you?”
She only admitted being at the pub that day “when they showed me CCTV pictures... me talking to Jason outside the pub.”
This revelation has sparked new concerns and questions from the Free Jason Moore campaign.
“If there is CCTV of Jason and Abbie outside the Fairlop Oak, we’ve never seen it,” said Jason’s sister Kirstie. “That has never been disclosed to us – and that makes you wonder what else has never been disclosed to us.”
The CPS did not respond to requests for comment on Abbie’s claims.
But it had previously said: “The CPS made full disclosure at the trial of Jason Moore and we are content that we fulfilled our responsibilities in this matter.”
The Met Police has said that it does not discuss the specifics of old cases. It has said the Robert Darby case is closed but could be reopened if significant new evidence came to light.
NEXT WEEK: Newsquest reveals shocking new evidence casting further doubt on the reliability of the eyewitness testimony which helped seal Jason’s fate.
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