Murder On Branch Hill

Murder on Union Hill Road

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In September , Wang was detained by the Swiss police, brought back to England and charged with fraud, theft and murder. Between his arrest and the start of the trial, it emerged that Wang had acted as an informant for MI6 in London for a number of years. When he finally stood trial at the Old Bailey in , journalists were ordered to leave the court on the grounds of national security.

It was the first murder case in modern times to have been held in such secrecy. After two trials — the jury could not agree on the murder charge in his first trial — he was convicted of murder, theft and fraud, and jailed for life with a recommendation that he should serve at least 20 years. A contempt order issued by the judge prevents the media from speculating about the reasons for the secrecy.

Murder in Hampstead: did a secret trial put the wrong man in jail?

In , Wang contacted the Guardian from prison, protesting his innocence of the murder. In January , we wrote about the inconsistencies in the case against him. Following our publication of the story, a fresh witness, who lived only a few doors from Chappelow, got in touch. This new witness told us that, after Wang was already in custody awaiting trial, he too had encountered someone interfering with his letterbox. When he confronted the intruder, he was threatened with a knife.

Now in the 11th year of his sentence, Wang, who is being held at Lowdham Grange prison in Nottingham, still protests his innocence. Investigators found signs that someone else had recently been in the house: No DNA, fingerprint or footprint evidence linked Wang to the murder scene, and it remains a mystery as to who had been in the house. But if Wang was not responsible for the murder, who was? Very little was known about the dead man, Allan Chappelow. What reasons might someone have had for killing him?

A llan Chappelow inherited the Hampstead house after his father died in , and, for most of the rest of his life, he lived there alone.

He seems to have shown as little interest in its upkeep as he did in his own appearance, which neighbours described as unkempt. The garden was overgrown and untended. Chappelow was the product of an educated, socialist family, whose liberal-leaning father, a successful decorator and upholsterer, had moved to Denmark rather than be conscripted into military service during the first world war.

At the end of hostilities, the family returned to London and bought 9 Downshire Hill. Allan grew up in a politically progressive home; his parents were active members of the Fabian Society. At the onset of the second world war, the bookish Chappelow was faced with the same dilemma as his father, as well as his schoolboy hero, George Bernard Shaw, who had refused to fight in the first world war and was strongly opposed to the second. He applied for conscientious-objector status and was sent to work as a farm labourer in Hampshire.

After the war, he took a degree in moral philosophy at Cambridge; after graduating in , he took photos of people in the public eye whom he admired. Through family connections, he met and photographed the writer HG Wells and the economists and reformers Sidney and Beatrice Webb. Better leave well alone. A trip to Russia in to satisfy his own curiosity led to a well-received book, Russian Holiday, published in at the height of the cold war. It concluded with a plea for tolerance: And hysteria can lead to war.

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His income from his writing was small, but he led an ascetic life and had few expenses. There were few visitors to 9 Downshire Hill, and no evidence of any long-term relationship. Most relatives assumed he was gay; a video of a gay pride march found among his belongings might seem to support this. But he was not a complete recluse. He travelled abroad on package holidays and, shortly before his death, went to Texas to carry out more Shaw research at the university. The last family member to see Chappelow was his cousin, Patty Ainsworth. They met in Austin, Texas, where Chappelow devoured the Shaw papers in the university archives.

Chappelow died intestate, and the police had a job on their hands to contact any relatives. The first suspicion, given his address and his apparent isolation, was that someone killed him because they wanted his money.

W ang Yam certainly needed money. A Chinese dissident and graduate in computer technology, he had moved to London and applied for asylum in But in spite of his education and experience, once settled in the UK, he turned out to be a terrible businessman, and went bankrupt twice, owing vast sums. To the intelligence services, he must have seemed a prime catch: He has told the Guardian and senior MPs that he has assisted the authorities in many ways.

After arriving in Britain, Wang set up a company called Quantum Electronics Corporation, which he described as a laptop computer design, distribution and repair company. This ended in bankruptcy in In , he set up another company, dealing in mortgages, which went bankrupt two years later, and led to bailiffs coming to his door to take goods in lieu of his massive debts.

In , he filed for personal bankruptcy, owing tens of thousands of pounds. His marriage to La Jia, with whom he had a daughter, ended. By the time of his arrest, he was in a relationship with another woman, and they had a son. His life was a mess both financially and personally.

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His chaotic and dishonest financial behaviour may well have worried his MI6 handlers. Emphasis is placed on the fact that there is a strong possibility that the confession was coerced.

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Interviews are conducted with Misskelley himself, his family and friends, and his attorney Dan Stidham. Misskelley is sentenced to life in prison. Part two of the film documents the trials of Echols and Baldwin. Like the coverage of Misskelley's trial, there are interviews with both defendants, their attorneys and their families.

Murder on Union Hill Road | Hazlitt

The families of the victims also share their views. During the course of filming, John Mark Byers , the stepfather of one of the victims Christopher Byers , gives the filmmakers a knife which has blood in the hinge. The filmmakers turn the knife over to police, who examine it; the DNA is similar to that of Mark Byers and Christopher, but the evidence is nonetheless inconclusive since the DNA evidence produced was fragmented and can not provide concrete links. The production had 79 filming days over a month period, starting in the weeks after the murders through the trials and convictions, at the actual Arkansas locations.

The movie was well received by critics, including Siskel and Ebert praising the movie.

First Paradise Lost 2: Revelations , which suggests that further evidence was missed or suppressed and attempts to prove Echols' innocence. Followed by Paradise Lost 3: Following a successful decision in by the Arkansas Supreme Court regarding recently uncovered DNA evidence, the West Memphis Three reached a deal with prosecutors. On August 19, , they entered Alford pleas , which allow them to assert their innocence and were sentenced to time served, effectively freeing them.

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