The case of Jason Moore, currently serving life for an East End murder he insists he did not commit, was raised at a crime writing festival last week as authors discussed Britain’s failing justice system.
Armed robber turned bestselling writer Linda Calvey mentioned Jason’s case on stage at Capital Crime, a three-day convention.
“It’s true, everybody in prison says they didn’t do it,” Linda said at the Leonardo Royal Hotel, St Paul’s. “But I did meet a few people along the way that I did truly believe in.”
Redbridge-born Linda served three years for armed robbery, which she admitted, and then 18 years for murdering her husband, which she has always denied.
Police and newspapers dubbed her “The Black Widow”. She served time alongside Rose West and Myra Hindley.
She was speaking on a panel about turning true stories into books after publishing a prison memoir, Life Inside, and a novel called Faith, the first of a trilogy based on women she met behind bars.
“There’s some real horror stories that you listen and you think, ‘you’re not the person who should be here’,” she said, adding that many fellow inmates came from broken homes or had been abused.
Linda told the crowd that Life Inside begins with a poem by Jason Moore, highlighting her concern that innocents are languishing in UK prisons.
“He has been in prison for ten years and he never did this crime,” she said. “He came forward as a witness in the case.
“The murderer was 5’10” with a bald head. He’s 6’5”, 18 stone and has curly hair and he got charged with the murder. Mistakes do happen.”
Jason was convicted in 2013 of murdering Robert Darby outside the Valentine pub in Gants Hill, Ilford, despite no forensic evidence linking him to the crime.
He went on trial after one eyewitness picked him from a line-up, seven years after the stabbing.
But this newspaper revealed last year that the witness had previously picked someone else as the stabber who looked nothing like Jason, and only picked Jason having already been shown his photo by police.
When our reporter tracked the witness down, he admitted he had been drunk at the time of the stabbing – something the defence was never told – and might have identified the wrong person.
The case is now under investigation by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).
Even his supposed victim Robert's family now believe in Jaspn's innocence, with his brother Tim, from Havering, helping to lead the Free Jason Moore campaign.
Catch up on our exclusive investigation into Jason Moore's murder conviction:
- Part 1 - East End Killing: Is a 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'
- Part 3 - East End Killing: Witness and CCTV evidence never presented in court casts doubt on the case against Jason
- Part 4 - East End Killing: 'I was drunk', confesses star prosecution witness
- Part 5 - East End Killing: Pathologist's pattern of 'serious misconduct' was hidden from jury
- Update: Jason Moore lawyers file papers in murder case appeal
- Watch: ITV News airs our Jason Moore murder investigation to millions
Appearing on the panel alongside Linda were authors Eleni Kyriacou and Hallie Rubenhold.
Hallie – whose book The Five, about the victims of Jack the Ripper, won the £50,000 Baillie Gifford Prize – expressed concern about the current state of British justice.
“The police are under-resourced and so mistakes are made,” she said.
But she added: “It doesn’t stop with the police. It stops with the justice system, and right now our justice system is in crisis."
Hallie believes courts are underfunded, adding: “There’s a backup currently of I think it’s 60,000 cases and the police are under pressure not to arrest people because they can’t process them.”
When the justice system fails, said Hallie, true crime journalism can and does help solve cases instead, like that of the Golden State Killer in the USA.
But, she said, an explosion of interest in true crime has also birthed a “dangerous” phenomenon of untrained social media users causing mayhem and engaging in wild, damaging speculation.
She cited the 2023 case of missing Lancashire woman Nicola Bulley.
Bloggers “were chasing Nicola Bulley’s family, accusing them of murder, prying into their life,” she said.
“This becomes very much about ego: ‘I want to be the person who solved this crime’.”
Other writers appearing at the annual Capital Crime festival included Rebus creator Ian Rankin, Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh and bestsellers Val McDermid, Kate Mosse and Mark Billingham.
The convention included the annual Fingerprint Awards, where winners included Lynda La Plante, Lisa Jewell and William Hussey.
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