Islington Tribune - News: Fresh probe into murder conviction 30 years ago, Errol Heibner, Beatrice Gold

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Islington Tribune - by TOM FOOT
Published: 4 April 2008

Fresh probe into murder conviction 30 years ago

A LEADING lawyer has blamed the Criminal Cases Review Commission for an eight-year delay in deciding whether an appeal bid over a murder conviction can go ahead.
Errol Heibner spent 25 years in prison following the murder of Clerkenwell clothes saleswoman Beatrice Gold in 1975 – a crime he has always maintained he did not commit. He was released in 2001.
The CCRC has been investigating grounds for an appeal since “confidential information” of police corruption emerged in 2000.
Lawyers have threatened it with legal action and this month it has agreed to investigate the case with a new panel.
Rhona Friedman, who specialises in “complex murder cases” at solicitors Bindmans, said: “The original investigation was fatally flawed. They have had this case to look at for eight years and my client is in his 60s.
“They came back and told us they would not grant an appeal hearing so we threatened them with judicial review. Then we heard three days later they had promised to look into it with a new panel. It is very unusual for them to do something like that.”
On a bright autumn morning in September 1975, Mrs Gold opened up her clothes business for the day, with her colleague Sheila Brown and her husband Eric.
She stayed at the office while the other two went shopping. When they got back they found her slumped in a pool of blood, shot three times in the head.
Mr Heibner, a friend of the east London gangster Reggie Kray, was known to Islington police as a professional criminal. At the time of the murder he was facing a 15-year sentence for an armed robbery he had already admitted.
Mr Heibner claims he was forced to sign a confession to prevent his girlfriend being framed in the case.
Ms Friedman said cases like Mr Heibner’s are taking longer and longer for the CCRC to consider. It was revealed in December last year that staff leaving the CCRC are not being replaced, leading to longer investigation times.
“We are suffering from budget restraints,” said CCRC chairman Professor Graham Zellick. “We are not replacing people when they leave. It does not have the slightest impact on the intensity of the work but it will have an impact on how quickly we get round to dealing with cases. That’s terribly upsetting for us.”

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