Limerick man loses appeal against life sentence

A Limerick man serving a life jail sentence in the UK for the murder of a businessman was today refused permission to appeal his conviction.

The Court of Appeal in London ruled at the end of a 90-minute hearing that Robert Knapp from Limerick, and another man, David Croke, had “no arguable grounds of appeal” and there was no reason to believe their convictions might be unsafe.

Knapp, 56, of Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick, and Croke, 60, of East Moulescoomb, Brighton, East Sussex, were convicted unanimously by an Old Bailey jury in July last year of the murder of Mohammed Raja at his Surrey home .

Mr Raja, 62, was stabbed five times and then shot in the face at close range with a sawn-off shotgun at his home in Sutton on the evening of July 2, 1999.

The prosecution alleged that Knapp and Croke were hitmen acting on behalf of a businessman.