Man jailed for Post Office van raid ‘was innocent’

A MAN convicted of armed robbery near Livingston almost 30 years ago is to have his case heard again at the Court of Appeal.

William Beck was convicted of robbing a post office van and sentenced to six years in prison.

He has always maintained his innocence and now after sunmissions by Bristol University’s Innocence Project the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has agreed his conviction may be unsafe.

Beck, was 20 when he was arrested in 1981 has consistently campaigned against his conviction.

The Court of Appeal rejected his case and twice the SCCRC, which looks into possible miscarriages of justice, refused to send it back.

Beck’s appeal centres on the fact only two out of five eye-witnesses picked him out at an identification parade. The researchers said mistaken ID by eyewitnesses was a leading cause of wrongful convictions.