Convicted killer bids for freedom

A MAN jailed for the brutal murder of two elderly Rotherham sisters could have his convictions quashed next month.

Michael David Philip Pluck was jailed for life at Sheffield Crown Court in 1996 for his part in the murders of pensioners Aileen Dudhill, aged 79, and Elsie Gregory (72).

He lost an appeal against his convictions in 2002, but his case was referred back to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the body that investigates suspected miscarriages of justice.

The hearing will start in November this year at London’s Royal Courts of Justice.

Fresh psychological evidence will be aired, which Pluck's lawyers believe will show his murder convictions are “unsafe.”

The judge at Pluck's trial, together with one of his then legal team, may be called to give evidence.

Pluck, formerly of Sunfield Avenue, Kilton, Worksop, and co-defendant Laurence Bierton, also of Worksop, were both jailed for life following the murders in June 1995.

One of the elderly women had been bludgeoned to death and her sister was stabbed. It was alleged the pensioners had found the men stealing from their home in Herringthorpe Valley Road.

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