Justice for Stephen Young

On 10 February 1993 Harry and Nicola Fuller were murdered in their home in Wadhurst. Both had been shot and a white powder sprinkled over Mr Fuller's body (which iater emerged to be a sugar-¬based substance, not drugs).

Despite Mr Fuller's associations with criminals, some senior, Stephen Young, a man of previous good character and a financial adviser, was later charged and convicted of the murders. His first conviction for the Fullers' murders was quashed when it emerged that the jury had, whilst sequestered, used an Ouija Board to assist them reach a verdict. However he was later convicted again by a different jury.
The Crown case against Mr Young was and has always been that he was a lone killer motivated by financial difficulties. He has always maintained his innocence.

A key part of the evidence in the case was a 999 call Mrs Fuller had made after she was first shot. This recorded background noise and the evidence has always been that one person can be heard searching the premises and walking around. The possibility of a second person could not be ruled out but was considered a remote possibility.

Using state of the art technology an expert based in the United States has subjected the recording of the 999 call to extensive interrogation and has been able to conclude to "a reasonable scientific certainty" that two people were present at the time of the time of the murders. This dramatic new evidence will now form the basis of an urgent application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission to re¬investigate the circumstances of the Fullers' murders and it is hoped refer the case back to the Court of Appeal to review the safety of Mr Young's convictions.

Simon McKay, a solicitor-advocate and Mr Young's legal representative said "this new evidence is a great breakthrough which I hope will lead to one of the criminal justice system's most notorious miscarriage of justice cases being righted". He went on to say "it is interesting that on the day of the murders a school girl spotted two people outside the Fullers' home but her evidence was completely discounted as being unreliable. This new material would tend to suggest that what she saw that morning may have been accurate".

Mr McKay will be pressing for a full review of the case, 'my priority is to secure Mr Young's vindication - he has been in prison for nearly 19 years - but to also persuade the authorities to establish whether advances in technology and science can now be exploited to ascertain the identities of the real killer or killers. So far Sussex Police has not been prepared to provide access to original exhibits or other assistance which has delayed some of the progress we have been able to make".

Simon McKay has handled a number of high profile cases including the Private Lee Clegg case (paratrooper cleared of murdering two teenagers in 1990) and is the solicitor handling Jeremy Bamber's current CCRC case.

Notes: Simon McKay can be reached by email: simon.mckay@mckaylaw.co.uk