Barlow loses Privy Council appeal

'No substantial miscarriage of justice'

APPEAL FAILS: John Barlow, convicted of the murders of Eugene and Gene Thomas, in 1995.

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Convicted double murderer John Barlow has lost his final bid to have his convictions overturned, as the Privy Council in London ruled against his appeal today.

The five law lords that heard Barlow's appeal tonight announced that while he had an arguable case, on the evidence he was properly convicted by the jury.

"The Board accordingly concludes...that, while the introduction of the misleading evidence...was indeed a miscarriage, no substantial miscarriage of justice actually occured," the judgement said.

Barlow's lawyer Greg King appealed to the council in February to have the murder convictions quashed.

Mr King rubbished FBI forensic evidence that led a jury to send his client to prison.

The Privy Council said while the introduction of the "misleading evidence" was a miscarriage "no substantial miscarriage of justice actually occurred".

After twice going through trials that ended in hung juries, Barlow was jailed for the murder of Wellington father and son Eugene and Gene Thomas, who were killed in 1994.

Mr King's first victory was for the law lords to hear the petition for special leave to appeal, and to consider evidence the New Zealand Court of Appeal would not hear when it denied Barlow an appeal in March last year.

Mr King told the law lords that crucial evidence relating to the weapon and bullets that killed the Thomas' had been falsely linked to Barlow, a former antiques dealer, who is serving 14 years in Upper Hutt's Rimutaka Prison.

Mr King said evidence given by FBI agent Charles Peters had been proved to be flawed and that had unduly influenced the jury at Barlow's third trial, after juries failed to reach a verdict at two previous trials.

The tests have since been discredited worldwide for providing a high number of false matches.

The Crown case in all three trials hinged on proving that Barlow's CZ27 pistol, and related bullets and a silencer, was the murder weapon.

Mr King would not comment on the Privy Council's verdict tonight.

Mr King said he would make a comment after reading the full court ruling.

- NZPA