Warsop trio appeal against Clifford Collinge murder convictions after fresh evidence is presented to judges

A Warsop woman and two men convicted alongside her of the brutal murder of her husband have launched appeals against their convictions.
Clifford Collinge.Clifford Collinge.
Clifford Collinge.

Clifford Collinge (61), of Sandy Lane in the town, died in October 2011 after suffering 46 injuries in a savage attack.

His wife, Charlotte Collinge (47), along with 42-year-old Stephen Shreeves, of Laurel Avenue, and Kelvin Dale (30), of Forest Road, were convicted and jailed for life in 2012.

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The prosecution alleged at Nottingham Crown Court that Charlotte Collinge had lured the men to her house with promises of sex and convinced them to kill her husband.

Charlotte CollingeCharlotte Collinge
Charlotte Collinge

But all three were back in court again on Thursday and watched from behind the bars of the dock as their lawyers appealed against their murder convictions.

Fresh evidence from two Warsop women would have allowed the trio to point the finger of blame at another man, judges were told.

Their neighbour, a local drinker known as ‘Stan’ Boardman, had told them there was ‘more than meets the eye’ about the death.

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Mr Boardman had been with Clifford Collinge on the night he was killed and was the prosecution’s star witness.

Kelvin Dale (left) and Stephen Shreeves (right).Kelvin Dale (left) and Stephen Shreeves (right).
Kelvin Dale (left) and Stephen Shreeves (right).

But his neighbour, Ann Maddison, of Meden Avenue, said Mr Boardman had visited her house afterwards and said he had ‘got away with murder’.

He confessed to having had a fight with Mr Collinge before his death and showed her a knife he said he had with him that night.

He said three ‘youths’ had returned to the house with Charlotte Collinge, he had injured one of them with a knife and then been knocked out.

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“He said he had got away with murder before and he was going to do it again,” said Mrs Maddison.

“I told him, if he knew owt, he should go and tell them the truth because it would come out in the long run.’

Mr Boardman had gone on to tell her he would be due compensation for what he experienced on the night of the killing and they would be ‘looked after’ if they kept their mouths shut.

Her daughter, Jean Reeveley, said she had seen Mr Boardman return to his home on the night of the killing, leave in a car and then return.

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Later, on a visit to their home, he had told her that he had gone to hide his clothing in woods.

For Shreeves, Trevor Burke QC said that, had that evidence been available at the trial, it would have drastically changed the way it went for all three defendants.

It would have allowed the defence teams to put it to Mr Boardman, who was not present nor legally represented on Thursday, that he was the killer.

He said it was particularly relevant that the women had tried to put forward their evidence before the trial ended and wanted to talk to the police, not the defence.

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“Neither of the women could possibly have appreciated the relevance of what they wanted to say,” said Mr Burke.

Prosecution barrister, Peter Joyce QC, suggested that the claim that Mr Boardman went away in a car on the night of the murder was wrong, as CCTV footage proved it false.

The account of having had a fight with Mr Collinge and then being knocked unconscious by a ‘youth’ suggested that Mr Boardman was not the killer, he added.

“Their evidence in no way renders unsafe the convictions,” he continued.

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“This was a powerful case and this evidence does nothing to undermine the power of it.”

Lord Justice Fulford, Mr Justice Hamblen and Judge John Wait reserved their decision on the appeals until a later date.