Trial
While on remand for the murders, Walker shared a cell with 18-year-old Andrew Lowden, also on remand. Lowden claimed that Walker was physically violent towards him and threatened to kill Lowden's father and girlfriend, and that Walker had confessed to the murders in lurid detail on the eve of the trial. When Lowden was released, Walker blackmailed Lowden into taking a letter out of the prison, placing the blame for the murders on the Provisional Irish Republican Army. The letter was confiscated by guards and Lowden was later called as a prosecution witness at Andrew Walker's trial.
As a defense, Walker claimed he was driving elsewhere during the murders and that they were the actions of a terrorist organization. He claimed that the shells linking him to the murder weapon were planted.
Walker was found guilty of murder and jailed for life. He was also convicted of theft and for attempting to pervert the course of justice by trying to smuggle the letter out of prison. The judge, Lord Grieve, recommended that Walker should serve at least 30 years for the murders. Lord Grieve noted "This was a calculated crime. The accused, if he was to achieve his purpose, had to kill. I am quite satisfied that the crime was carefully planned, and I am also quite sure that the substance of the evidence given by Walker was a tissue of lies." He called the crimes "callous, brutal and calculated".
Walker's conviction was upheld on appeal, but the sentence was shortened to 27 years as Walker successfully argued in 2002 that he should not have been treated more harshly than other murderers.
Read more about this topic: Andrew Walker (murderer)
Famous quotes containing the word trial:
“Going to trial with a lawyer who considers your whole life-style a Crime in Progress is not a happy prospect.”
—Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939)
“In government offices which are sensitive to the vehemence and passion of mass sentiment public men have no sure tenure. They are in effect perpetual office seekers, always on trial for their political lives, always required to court their restless constituents.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
“You don’t want a general houseworker, do you? Or a traveling companion, quiet, refined, speaks fluent French entirely in the present tense? Or an assistant billiard-maker? Or a private librarian? Or a lady car-washer? Because if you do, I should appreciate your giving me a trial at the job. Any minute now, I am going to become one of the Great Unemployed. I am about to leave literature flat on its face. I don’t want to review books any more. It cuts in too much on my reading.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)