The family of a dad who was kicked to death after a night out in Southport have criticised the campaign to free his killer.
James Thompson was jailed for life and ordered to serve at least 10 years behind bars for murdering Antony Johnson, 47, in 2009.
His case is now being examined by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) and has attracted support from the former Bishop of Liverpool, who has visited the 25-year-old in jail.
Antony Johnson, who was killed on a Christmas night out in Southport in 2009
The Right Reverend James Jones, who said he has studied Thompson’s murder files, believes the quantity surveyor’s conviction could be unsafe.
But Mr Johnson’s relatives have slammed the campaign to have him exonerated, pointing his guilty verdict was later followed up by a failed appeal at the High Court in London, where a judge described the Formby man’s actions as ‘gratuitous violence.’
Abbey Johnson, 23, Antony’s daughter, said Thompson’s guilt was ‘beyond a shadow of a doubt’.
She told the ECHO: “Thompson has shown no remorse for what he did to my dad. He was continually kicked on the floor, and left with shoe prints embedded in dad’s face.
“Thompson was dragged off my dad by an off-duty police officer. His {damaged} brain and throat was used as evidence in court.
“My dad simply went out, but never came home. As a family, we won’t get him back, but Thompson will still see his family."
Murder Scene on Lord Street in December 2009 after Antony Johnson was murdered by James Thompson while on a Christmas night out. Thompson was later jailed for life
Mr Johnson was on a Christmas night out when he was killed. Prosecutors said he had tried to help two upset teenage girls in Lord Street in Southport, before he was fatally attacked.
Ms Johnson also criticised the Rt Rev Jones for getting involved in the case, adding: “He doesn’t know any background to the case, unless he’s undergone forensic training.
“This is making us relive what happened to my dad.”
Rt. Hon. James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool, pictured at Cardiff Bay.
The former Bishop of Liverpool has declined to comment again on the case, but a spokesman said he was ‘continuing to support James Thompson privately’, over ‘the injustice of his treatment’.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission has been actively scrutinising Thompson’s conviction for the past 16 months after it was first allocated to investigators in September 2014.
Bill Esterson, Sefton Central Labour MP, who is also supporting the Thompson family, has raised the case in Parliament, querying the CCRC’s delay in delivering a judgement.
The Thompson family say their son acted in self-defence, but that claim was rubbished by the Johnsons who say Antony suffered massive injuries.
The victim’s family added that he was only 5ft 8ins in height, a diabetic – who’d that night forgotten to take his medication – and had recently injured his right shoulder, leaving him unable to move properly.
“He was in no fit state to fight,’ they said.
Mr Johnson was walking to a taxi rank when he went to help two distressed teenage girls who were in a confrontation with the killer and his pals, the original trial heard.
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/