Notorious Murders of the Twentieth Century by Stephen Wade

Author:Stephen Wade
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781844684083
Publisher: Wharncliffe
Published: 2011-11-30T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

Cornered in Kirkheaton

Anyone who reads the evidence would conclude that Moore was innocent.

Steve Lawson

The following few paragraphs tell the established view of a crime in Yorkshire sixty years ago. In 1951, the quiet suburb of Kirkheaton, just a few miles from Huddersfield town centre, was the stage for high drama. At Whinney Close Farm, Alfred Moore had been the focus of a police hunt after a burglary and officers were waiting at his home. Their plan was, of course, to get hold of him with the stolen goods on his person. In the early hours, shooting began from the farm, and two officers went down, mortally wounded.

The man they wanted was inside, and gun-crazy; as the injured men were taken to hospital, the detectives in charge had to make their men remain patient, as they were eager to get to grips with a man who dared to ire on the officers of the law. They were keen to grab him as they knew that DI Fraser had died before reaching the hospital; he had three bullet wounds in him. More police arrived, and it was then a question of how to conduct this siege without more loss of life.

The farm was searched and plenty of goods were found that had almost certainly been stolen; Moore had been approached by Fraser and PC Jagger earlier in the day, and Jagger had seen Moore shoot his officer. An identiication parade was held at the bedside of the wounded constable, and Moore was picked out. PC Jagger died the day after this identification. Moore was hanged in Armley on 6 February 1952.

Most reference works have more or less that outline of the events and the killings. As with all historical material, the narrative is broadly accepted and then reproduced, without too much digging into circumstances. Much the same summary of events is given, for instance, in Gaute and Odell's reference work, The Murderers’ Who's Who (1979) and also in many other general crime reference works.

That all seems very simple and straightforward. But as Oscar Wilde memorably said, ‘Truth is rarely pure and never simple.’ In fact, the above summary is so far from being an established account of events that as I write this in May 2010, a new investigation into the events of that day is being undertaken. In an article written for The Huddersfield Examiner in January, Barry Gibson reported: ‘The Criminal Cases Review Commission has announced it will launch a full investigation into the conviction of Alfred Moore.’

The figure behind this move is undoubtedly Steve Lawson, a former detective who has been campaigning for that to be done for many years. Lawson was the man who presented the case to the CCRC. He told the press, ‘If the Commission decides that my argument stands, then the case can be sent to the Court of Appeal which can quash the conviction. I would hope that Alfred Moore would then be given a posthumous pardon.’

Before that material given is discussed, it is necessary to review the events of the murder and the trial.

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