A Huddersfield man serving life in prison over the brutal murder of a former drug addict today failed in his Court of Appeal bid to clear his name.
Paul Mark Kelly, 36, of Abbey Road, Fartown, was jailed for life in 2011 after he was convicted of murdering 52-year-old Kim Driver.
He must serve at least 14 years behind bars for the killing.
Mr Driver was found dead in the ground floor flat where he lived alone in Crawthorne Crescent, Deighton, in July 2010.
Prosecutors said he was attacked by Kelly in a fit of jealousy after falsely boasting of a relationship with one of Kelly’s ex-girlfriends and was stabbed in the chest and upper abdomen 11 times.
Kelly continues to deny the murder and today took his case to the Court of Appeal in London.
However, three senior judges rejected the arguments and Kelly’s appeal, upholding his conviction and life sentence.
His barrister Kalyani Kaul QC had argued that vital information was not disclosed to the defence by the prosecution before the trial.
One witness had an investigation hanging over her head at the time of her interview, she said, and thought she might be charged with a criminal offence.
That gave her a ‘free-standing motive to lie’ in her account, which was part of the defence case at the trial at Bradford Crown Court.
Miss Kaul said the evidence appeared as a ‘two-line reference’ in a probation report on Kelly himself.
It would have changed the way Kelly’s legal team approached his defence, she told Lord Justice Pitchford, Mr Justice Walker and Mr Justice Cranston.
“Had the disclosure been made, it would have been deployed inevitably,” she said.
“It is something we had not been aware of and, it appears, neither did counsel at trial. It went to the witness’ state of mind at the time she made her statement. The potential to be charged was hanging over her head.”
Miss Kaul said she had scoured three crates full of trial documents and not found the evidence.
At the end of today’s hearing, Lord Justice Pitchford said Kelly’s appeal would be dismissed, but said he would give his reasons at a later date.
