POLICE are to look at possible new evidence about the case of Alfred Moore who was hanged in 1952 for murdering two police officers in Huddersfield.

The new development comes after the Examiner featured the story of a former detective Steven Lawson who thinks the wrong man was executed.

Moore was suspected of being a prolific burglar.

On the night of July 14, 1951, 10 police officers surrounded his farmhouse at Cockley Hill in Kirkheaton hoping to catch him returning home with his haul.

Two of the officers were shot while trying to arrest a man as he approached the house.

Det Insp Duncan Fraser, 45, died at the scene and Pc Gordon Jagger, 42, was rushed to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

Moore was arrested at his farmhouse a few hours after the shooting – but the gun was never found. One theory is that the killer fled, leaving Moore to take the blame.

As he lay dying in his hospital bed, Pc Jagger picked Moore out from a nine-man identity parade. Moore was hanged at Armley Prison in Leeds in 1952.

Kirkheaton man Steven Lawson has been investigating the case in recent months.

The 61-year-old, who was a detective for six years, believes Moore was innocent.

Last month he told the Examiner the case against the executed man had been weak with no forensic evidence and a flawed identification parade.

Before Christmas Mr Lawson and another former detective met a man in Lancashire.

Mr Lawson said: “He told us that his mother had revealed on her death bed that his father, who has also passed away, had committed the murders.”

The two former detectives then met West Yorkshire Police.

Mr Lawson said:

“They are investigating the facts that have come to light. They are examining what could be new evidence, but they have not re-opened the case.”

In last month’s Examiner article, Mr Lawson appealed for anyone with information to get in touch. One of those to come forward was Rex Hallas.

He said he had walked past the farmhouse around 12.15am on the night of the murders – about 30 minutes after the police claimed to have set up a cordon.

Mr Hallas said: “I walked a friend of mine back to Houses Hill and then returned to my father’s house at the top of Cockley Hill.

“I walked across Mr Moore’s property.”

Shortly after the shots were fired at 2am, two plainclothes police officers called.

Mr Hallas, who was 16 at the time, said:

“They said they had been watching Mr Moore’s house but I told them they couldn’t have been, or else they would have pulled me up for walking through the area.

“One of the officers told me the best thing I could do would be to shut up and go to bed.”

Mr Hallas said:

“I never disclosed it because I was frightened. I had no proof that I had walked past the house and I didn’t think they would take my word for it.”

Anyone with information on the case can email Mr Lawson at info.atpolicemurders1951@ntlworld.com or call 077 99 786 020.