“Hot Dog Wars” – Warren Slaney (1990)

“On the 10th of Oct. 1990 Warren Slaney was arrested and later charged with the murder of 2 men, Gary Thompson and John Weston, in Oadby, Leicester. The murders took place at 2am outside the house of Gary & Mavis Thompson. The police suggested that three men were directly involved in an armed “robbery” that backfired.

As a result Warren Slaney is now serving life imprisonment for a crime he did not commit.

• Physical descriptions given by eye witnesses do not match Warren Slaney’s appearance.
• Witness 1 :- that the perpetrators were over 6ft and of the same build as Gary Thompson (about 21st).
• Witness 2 :- that one was 6ft-6ft 1″, broad, heavily built, dark tan, big moustache, hat with pony tail.
• Warren Slaney is 5ft 8″ white, clean shaven and had very short hair. At the time he weighed between 9½-10st.
• Nine witnesses were with Warren at a party till 4.30am on the morning of the murders.
• A crucial prosecution witness testified in court that she had falsified her statement to the police. This statement implicated Warren Slaney directly in the “robbery”.
• The man who disposed of the gun admitted that Warren had nothing to do with the murders. This statement was not used in court.
• Warren was accused of firing the Beretta handgun which killed two men. The shots fired displayed a great degree of accuracy.Warren had previously suffered hand injuries which resulted in the insertion of metal plates. He would not have been capable of such an act because he would not have been capable of pulling the trigger. This medical evidence was never used by the defence.
• There was no forensic evidence to link Warren to the murders although the police searched his home 4 times.”

via the “Something Different” blog by Mark Galpin and Rachel Mawson

 

Warren Slaney was sentenced to a double life sentence in 1992 for the 1990 murders of Gary Thompson and John Weston.

An application was made to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (“CCRC”) in 1999.

Warren Slaney’s case, whilst initially refused, is being re examined by the CCRC following recently discovered new evidence.

‘Every wrongful conviction has far reaching implications for us all. The total waste of public resources in today’s terms amounts to in excess of £1m and it is rising. It is certainly an aspect of miscarriages of justice that is largely overlooked.’

The campaign has the support of Dr Michael Naughton of The Innocence Project based at Bristol University who showed that miscarriages of justice were costing the public purse as much as £200m a year in 2002.

In 2002 Dr. Michael Naughton conducted a report for the Miscarriage Of Justice Organisation (“MOJO”) and showed that miscarriages of justice were costing the public purse in excess of 200 m / year in the following four areas:

• Costs of imprisonment
• Legal aid
• Compensation
• Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC)

This does not account for other costs such as welfare payments for dependents and the loss of taxes that would have been paid in to the public purse.

‘The scale of the problem indicates that each case must be investigated thoroughly. A conservative estimate for Warren Slaney’s case stands at well in excess of £1m his trial, appeal, police investigation, etc. You may wonder what this means to you. People aren’t aware just how much public money is being absorbed by miscarriages of justice money that could be better used on services such as education, health and provisions for the elderly.’ – Dr Michael Naughton 11.10.10

Contacts

• Russ Spring (Campaign Manager) 07806 557 509 / 0121 449 7095
• Dr. Michael Naughton m.naughton@bristol.ac.uk
• Maslen Merchant (Hadgkiss Hughes and Beale Solicitors) 0121 449 5050 maslenmerchant@hhb-mo.co.uk
• CCRC: Website http://www.ccrc.gov.uk/ Email info@ccrc.gov.uk
• Warren is currently (June 2013) in HMP Wakefield, 5 Love Lane, Wakefield , West Yorkshire WF2 9AG

Links

• Justice for Warren Slaney – West Midlands Against Injustice: http://www.mojuk.org.uk/WMAI/warrenslaney.htm
• Free Warren Slaney: https://www.j12.org/ps/warren.htm
• “Hot dog murders” case is examined: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/4242501.stm
• The Death of Gary “Mr Big” Thompson: http://wolfiewiseguy.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/there-has-long-been-rivalry-over.html