Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

The Court of Appeal has turned down an application by 28-year-old labourer Kevin Mayne to adduce fresh evidence that he suffered from a personality disorder and should not have been convicted of the murder of taxi driver Valerie Williams, of Christiana, Manchester.

Mayne was relying on a report last year from psychiatrist consultant Dr Carol McDaniel that because of his mental retardation from a head injury when he was 11 years old, he was not responsible for his role in the murder.

Convicted in 1999

Mayne and Jeffrey Miller were convicted in November 1999 for the October 30, 1997 murder of the taxi driver. The taxi driver's body was found in a cave in Coleyville, Manchester, the following day.

The Crown led evidence that Mayne and Miller robbed Williams of her motor car and stabbed her to death. The body had 20 stab wounds and the neck was broken.

They lost their appeal in July 2001 against their convictions and death sentences.

25 years each

The United Kingdom Privy Council dismissed their appeal and they were subsequently resentenced in December 2005 to life imprisonment and ordered to serve 25 years each before being eligible for parole.

The Court of Appeal, comprising Justice Panton, Justice Howard Cooke and Justice Zaila McCalla (now chief justice), held Friday that the evidence of McDaniel failed to demonstrate a basis for the conclusion that at the time of the murder, Mayne's mental state substantially impaired his responsibility for that crime.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com