Man's murder conviction quashed by Court of Appeal

ByLiam Barnes

East Midlands

A man who was found guilty of murder following a stabbing has had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal.

Davices Anderson, 22, died in hospital after being found injured at the junction of Huntingdon Street and Woodborough Road, Nottingham, on 28 April 2023.

David Francis was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 16 and a half years the following year, but the 63-year-old's conviction has now been overturned.

However, Courtney McLeary, who was also jailed for life, had his own separate appeal dismissed.

In a judgment handed down remotely on Wednesday, the three Court of Appeal judges said Anderson - who was also known as Ricardo - died from "a single stab wound to the heart" and had also suffered other stab wounds while in McLeary's flat, where everyone had been taking drugs.

While there was "no dispute" McLeary stabbed Anderson, his defence had been he was acting in self-defence after the deceased was behaving aggressively, while Francis had claimed he "was not involved and had effectively been acting as a peacemaker when the deceased had been threatening others in the flat".

In their appeals, both defendants claimed hearsay evidence from a drug user, who was at the flat when the stabbing occurred but died before the trial, should not have been put before the jury.

This was rejected by the judges, who said the trial judge "was entitled to admit the evidence by applying the statutory provisions that she did", and that earlier "inconsistent" statements were also put before the jury to allow them to assess the reliability of the witness.

Francis's defence also said the judge "should have withdrawn the case from the jury following a submission of no case to answer", and claimed the prosecutor "invited the jury to rely on matters not advanced in evidence" during their closing speech.

The Court of Appeal judges said they found "insufficient evidence to justify categorising Francis as a participant" or "to justify any conclusion that he either encouraged or assisted McLeary".

"[We] are satisfied that the evidence as a whole is not sufficient for the case to have proceeded against him," they said.

"We consider that the evidence against Francis amounts to little more than his being present at the scene, which was an event, party or social gathering that had gone on for some hours.

"The violence erupted suddenly and unexpectedly."

The judges said it was "not necessary" to consider the issue of what was said to the jury by the prosecutor, as the other grounds for appeal had been successful.

They also warned juries "should not be invited to speculate on what other evidence there might be".

"Indeed, that this jury were particularly astute is shown by a note that they sent to the judge on this very point, which demonstrated that they realised that there had been no evidence at all put before them on this point," they added.