A man in prison for a murder of which the victim’s family believes he is innocent says he fears for his life after learning intelligence of a hit ordered on him.
Jason Moore’s conviction for stabbing to death Robert Darby in an east London pub car park in 2005 relied heavily on witness testimony that is now in doubt. The victim’s brother, Tim Darby, is among those campaigning for Moore’s release.
Just weeks after Moore made a fresh application for his case to be referred back to the court of appeal, intelligence of a £10,000 reward to have him stabbed in prison emerged. Police are investigating and Moore is in solitary confinement in HMP Oakwood for his own protection.
Speaking from prison through a relative, Moore, 54, said: “My life has been a nightmare for the last few days.” He said that the unknown person ordering a hit “sent photographs and prison numbers to people, so the threat is very credible”.
The situation has prompted Moore’s lawyer to request that the miscarriage of justice body, the Criminal Cases Review Commission, expedites his case, given the potential risk to him and witnesses.
Moore said he hoped the CCRC would understand the urgency of the situation. “I’m a lot more concerned now … so they mustn’t drag their feet. They need to deal with this ASAP so nothing can go wrong for me, hopefully. “
He added: “They’ve got to realise now that they can’t take forever to look at this because all the time they’re dragging this out I’ve got this hanging over me.”
Moore was a professional gambler with no previous convictions for violence. He is more than a decade into an 18-year sentence with little hope of release soon because he refuses to do courses that would force him to admit to the crime.
The fresh application to the CCRC focuses on new evidence from the only witness to identify Moore in a lineup. The witness initially picked out a volunteer who looked nothing like Moore and told the Romford Recorder last year that he was in fact drunk at the time of the incident and got only a fleeting glance.
The new CCRC application also alleges that when the body turned down Moore’s last application it inaccurately summarised the position of another witness.
Intelligence about a hit followed the arrival of a suspicious package at the prison in December that his family said appeared to be an attempt to frame him for an escape plan.
Moore’s sister, Kirstie Moore, said this was the third time that a breakthrough in her brother’s case had prompted threats. She said that when his first CCRC application was submitted in 2020 she was threatened with acid and that when he launched an appeal in 2017 his girlfriend received a warning from police that her life was in danger.
“Every time we go with the hope of Jason’s case being reinvestigated, all of a sudden, all this activity of threatening behaviour happens,” she said.
A spokesperson for G4S, which runs the prison, told the Guardian it took the threat very seriously and that after a full security assessment Moore was moved to a safe space.
A CCRC spokesperson said: “An application has been received related to this case. It would be inappropriate for us to discuss the application or make any further comment at this stage.”
A spokesperson for Essex police said: “We are investigating an allegation of threats made against an individual following a referral by colleagues with Staffordshire police.”
They said the investigation was at an early stage and that they had contacted the informant to progress it.
