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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Court quashes murder conviction | Court quashes murder conviction |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| A man who spent eight years in prison after being convicted of murder has won his appeal against conviction. | A man who spent eight years in prison after being convicted of murder has won his appeal against conviction. |
| Ian Lawless, 47, was jailed for life in 2002 after confessing to the murder of retired sea captain Alf Wilkins on the Yarborough estate in Grimsby. | Ian Lawless, 47, was jailed for life in 2002 after confessing to the murder of retired sea captain Alf Wilkins on the Yarborough estate in Grimsby. |
| Mr Lawless's solicitors told the Court of Appeal that the confession was unreliable because of his medical condition at the time. | Mr Lawless's solicitors told the Court of Appeal that the confession was unreliable because of his medical condition at the time. |
| The Crown Prosecution Service said it would not contest the appeal. | The Crown Prosecution Service said it would not contest the appeal. |
| Mr Lawless and another man were convicted of firebombing Mr Wilkins's flat after wrongly suspecting him of being a paedophile. | Mr Lawless and another man were convicted of firebombing Mr Wilkins's flat after wrongly suspecting him of being a paedophile. |
| The former tugboat skipper's body was found in the kitchen of his smoke-damaged flat with his 12-year-old black Alsatian dog Lucky lying nearby. | The former tugboat skipper's body was found in the kitchen of his smoke-damaged flat with his 12-year-old black Alsatian dog Lucky lying nearby. |
| Three judges in London ruled that his conviction was unsafe after hearing medical evidence about his mental condition at the time - including a "pathological need for attention". | |
| His case had been referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the body which investigates possible miscarriages of justice. |