A MAN convicted of a double murder has been "abandoned" without cash or help for three months while he waits for his name to be cleared.

Peter Fell has been left without benefits or the chance to work since leaving jail in November, pending an appeal hearing on Wednesday, which is expected to result in his conviction being overturned.

Today his MP, Greg Pope of Hyndburn, demanded changes in the law to prevent other people being left in limbo like Peter, who has been left to fend for himself after a life in institutions.

Former Great Harwood soldier Peter, whose mother Maureen is from Accrington, was just 23 when he was convicted of murdering Ann Lee, 44, the wife of a retired Army major, and Margaret "Peggy" Johnson, 65, the wife of a banking director on Aldershot Common.

He was given two life sentences at Winchester Crown Court on August 9 1984 but has been freed on bail by the Court of Appeal in London after prosecution lawyers admitted the conviction was unsafe because it was based of confessions which he later retracted.

Since being released from jail, he has been living at bail hostels in London and Poole, Dorset, but according to Hyndburn MP Greg Pope, who has championed Fell's cause, he has life hard.

Mr Pope said: "He hasn't been able to claim benefits because he hasn't got a National Insurance number, which he can only get if he collects benefits. It is a vicious circle he has become trapped in and he isn't the only person who is suffering.

"Had he been released normally as someone reaching the end of his sentence he would have received all manner of help but because he is released pending an appeal he has basically been abandoned.

"Peter grew up in care and went straight into the army. From there, he spent little time out before becoming the victim of a gross miscarriage of justice.

"All of a sudden he has been released after spending all this time institutionalised with no help. I have written to the relevant government departments in the hope that action will be taken to make sure something like this doesn't happen again."

In a letter to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, Peter writes: "There isn't any help available to people who have spent a long time in prison and then are released pending their convictions being quashed.

"I thought this would have been picked up on by somebody by now because it is an area of concern. I know that once my conviction is quashed I will be eligible to apply for compensation but that can take years, what about now?

"The only preparation I had for release was being able to share a cell with other people in the last prison I was in."

Fell's solicitor is James Nichol, who played a part in the release of other wrongly-convicted prisoners such as those involved in the M25 case and the Bridgewater killings.

He said: "There is no doubt in my mind that Peter is innocent." PICTURE: Peter Fell