POLICE have refused to reinvestigate the murder of a popular market trader – despite a private detective’s claims they locked up the wrong man.
Molly Wright, 73, was bludgeoned to death at her home in Redhill Gardens, Castleford, in September 2006.
Her son-in-law David Hill was jailed for life in 2008.
But Mrs Wright’s family has always believed he was innocent and appointed Andy Brown, a former head of CID for West Yorkshire, to prove it was a miscarriage of justice.
Mr Brown claims he has found new evidence, including witnesses who say they saw another man outside the property carrying what looked like a heavy object in a plastic bag around the time Mrs Wright was killed.
The private investigator told BBC’s Inside Out programme the conviction of Mr Hill was “unsafe” and the case should be reopened.
But West Yorkshire Police’s temporary chief constable John Parkinson said nothing significant had come to light.
“There is nothing to warrant reopening the case, which was successfully tried at crown court,” he said.
During his trial, the jury heard Hill, now 52, had been hiding debts of £20,000 from Mrs Wright, who was his business partner at Castleford indoor market and was worth £2m when she died.
He was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2008, with a minimum tariff of 14 years.
He twice unsuccessfully appealed against his conviction. Following a full review, the Criminal Cases Review Commission also refused to sanction a retrial.
West Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson said: “I’m satisfied that there appear to be no question marks around who was responsible.”