AN ELLESMERE Port man is appealing against his conviction for murdering a friend.
Christopher Robert Reed, 41, was jailed for life for his part in the brutal killing of Lorraine Jones at a flat in the town in June 2005.
Passing sentence after his trial in October 2006, Judge John Rogers QC recommended he serves at least 30 years behind bars.
At the same hearing, Reed’s girlfriend and co-accused Kathy Lillian Williams, 32, who was also convicted of murder, was sentenced to 24 years.
Reed, who is being held at Altcourse Prison in Fazackerley, Liverpool, has already written to the Pioneer protesting his innocence.
In his letter he restated his claim, made in court, that Williams was solely to blame for murdering 45-year-old Miss Jones at the couple’s flat in Westminster Road.
Reed recently sent us another letter, again passed through a friend, telling us about his appeal.
In it he says: ‘I have been granted leave to appeal my conviction and sentence in the near future. I will be going to London to the Court of Appeal.’
Reed also claims: ‘I had no involvement whatsoever in the murder of Lorraine Jones.
‘I have a vast amount of new evidence which will be heard in the Court of Appeal.’
A spokesman for HM Courts Service said: ‘Christopher Reed does have an appeal in at the Court of Appeal, which is in the process of going to the full court. However, there is no listing date at the moment.’
The jury in the three-week trial at Mold Crown Court heard how Miss Jones, who had been staying with the pair in Ellesmere Port, was beaten, stabbed, stamped on and strangled before her body was loaded into a car and dumped on the road to Bala in North Wales.
Both defendants had denied murder but Reed admitted to perverting the course of justice.
