PETER Fell has been the victim of a terrible miscarriage of justice, according to Hyndburn MP Greg Pope.

Mr Pope took a personal interest in Fell's case after he was contacted by the convicted killer from his prison cell and has now called for an investigation into the police handling of the double murder case..

The MP took time to meet Fell while he was in prison in Lancashire to discuss his case.

Mr Pope said: ""I met Peter for several hours some years ago when he was in Garth Prison in Lancashire. I visited him and was allowed to see him without anyone else present.

"He seem a nice quiet kind of guy. It was clear that what has happened to him throughout his life has damaged him badly.

"There has been a terrible miscarriage of justice which must be put right.

"There are serious questions about the police investigation. It is quite clear that his confession was a cry for help. He was always seeking attention.

"Initially, he is going to be cared for by people in Dorset, by a church group down there who have played a leading role in his case.

"The first thing we now need to do is to get his name cleared and conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal. "The second is to get an investigation into how the case was conducted by the Hampshire Police. I shall be asking Home Secretary Jack Straw to order an investigation into it by the Police Complaints Authority and another force. We need to know what went wrong and why.

"And thirdly, there is the question of compensation. He deserved compensation and I believe will get compensation - I suspect quite a lot of compensation."

The two murdered women were exercising their red setter and Labrador dogs on Aldershot Common on May 10 1982 when they were attacked.

The campaign group Liberty today said there are many people in prison who have protested their innocence for many years like Peter Fell.

A spokesman for the group said: "Because these people don't admit their guilt it can lead to them getting their sentences extended because they don't become eligible for parole unless they admit their crimes, so it means they can be doubly penalised.

"If they don't happen to be guilty they are less prepared to admit their guilt."