Innocent man freed after 25 years in jail

A MAN who has served 25 years behind bars protesting he was the victim of police corruption could be in line for a compensation payment running into millions after the Court of Appeal yesterday overturned his murder conviction.

Robert Brown, now 45, from Glasgow, who was jailed for life in 1977 for the murder of 51-year-old Manchester spinster Annie Walsh, was dramatically freed by three judges in London who ruled that the guilty verdict against him "cannot be regarded as safe".

Lord Justice Rose, Mr Justice Gibbs and Mr Justice Davis heard that unknown to the jury or the trial judge, one of the police officers central to the case, Detective Chief Inspector Jack Butler, was "deeply corrupt".