I will fight on to clear my name

DEFIANT . . . Susan May

Convicted killer’s pledge after latest defeat

SUSAN May says the fight to clear her name will go on after a further appeal against her murder conviction was turned down.

Mrs May (65) was jailed in 1993 for smothering to death her elderly aunt Hilda Marchbank (89) at the woman’s home in Tandle Hill Road, Royton.

But in the latest twist in a long legal battle, the Criminal Cases Review Commission has refused to refer the conviction back to the Court of Appeal.

Mrs May said she was, “very, very disappointed,” with the latest announcement as she continues to protest her innocence — five years after she was released from prison.

Forensic evidence used to convict her, involving blood stains and fingerprints, has since been labelled questionable after modern scientific studies.

May says she is now considering challenging the decision in the courts through judicial review.

Two previous appeal attempts during her 12-year sentence, in 1997 and 2001, were turned down.

At the 1993 trial, the prosecution accused May, of Dogford Road, of murdering the pensioner for her inheritance after becoming heavily in debt.

She insists that the murder happened during a botched burglary and that she came across her aunt’s body during her daily visit.The grandmother of five was last year treated for breast cancer at the Royal Oldham Hospital.