25/01/2013

Judges Reject David Bourke Murder Conviction Appeal

David Bourke has lost his appeal against a life sentence murder conviction.

In 2009 Bourke was jailed for life for stabbing his wife, Jean Gilbert, to death in front of their three children in 2007.

The three judge Court of Criminal Appeal this morning ruled against Bourke’s claim that his conviction was unsafe and should be set aside.

Mr Justice Barry White had imposed the life sentence after a Central Criminal Court jury found him guilty of the murder.

Denying murder, the 52-year-old former insurance administrator admitted he stabbed his wife under severe provocation because she was going to leave him for another man.

The main grounds of Bourke's appeal against his conviction included that the trial judge - Mr Justice White- gave a material misdirection to the jury on the law regarding the defence of provocation.

This had the effect of making his conviction unsafe, it was claimed.

The DPP had opposed the appeal and argued that the conviction was safe.

(H)


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