A CONVICTED double murderer from East Lancashire who has been protesting his innocence for 15 years has won the chance to appeal against his conviction.

Photographic salesman Peter Fell, from Great Harwood, was given two life sentences in 1984 for the motiveless and brutal killings of two women on a footpath at Aldershot Common.

Ann Lee, 44, and Margaret "Peggy" Johnson, 65, were walking their dogs on the common when they were stabbed to death.

But solicitors acting for Mr Fell have made a crucial breakthrough in his campaign after it was revealed that the Criminal Cases Review Commission had referred the conviction to the Court of Appeal.

Hyndburn MP Greg Pope, who has been campaigning for Mr Fell's release, said it was "fantastic news."

Ex-soldier Fell, who attended Norden High School, Rishton, before leaving the area to join the army made a confession during three days of interviews with Hampshire Police when he was without a solicitor.

He later withdrew the confession and solicitors claimed it was unreliable, but he was convicted at Winchester Crown Court in August 1984 - despite no forensic evidence being produced at the trial .

Fell applied for leave to appeal against his conviction in 1985, but was refused in November of that year.

In November 1992, Fell's friends and family staged a walk from Accrington to Preston to highlight the case, but in 1993 he was told he would not be considered for release until he came to terms with his offence.

In 1994 a Channel Four documentary cast serious doubt on the conviction by revealing a key witness in the trial admitted he had lied and that there were inconsistencies between Fell's alleged confession and the facts of the case. The Criminal Cases Review Commission has confirmed that the conviction has been referred to the Court of Appeal.

Mr Pope said: "This is fantastic news.

"I have been pursuing this for five or six years at every conceivable level, most recently with the Home Secretary Jack Straw.

"I am convinced Peter Fell is innocent and that there has been a terrible miscarriage of justice."

Liberty, a group which campaigns for people who claim they have been wrongly sent to prison, has also campaigned for Mr Fell's release.

A spokesman for Liberty today said they welcomed the decision.

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