Man who killed his wife in fire deported to South Korea
A MURDERER who killed his wife in a Snowdonia fire has been deported to South Korea - even though doubts persist over his conviction.
Jong Yoon Rhee started the blaze near Llanrwst in 1997 and was convicted of murdering his wife Natalie at a trial the following year.
Last month, after serving 18 years, he was escorted from HMP Gartree, a category B prison in Leicestershire, and flown back to his native country. He is believed to have left there, aged eight in 1972.
It was in April 1997 that the couple were staying at a 17th Century cottage in Llanrwst. Rhee told his Chester Crown Court trial that they were awoken by fire. Natalie was hesitant about jumping through the bedroom window so he went first and would have caught her. She, however, didn’t follow and died.
The prosecution said he torched the cottage to claim £250,000 to cover gambling debts.
But a forensic expert alleged that there were flaws in the fire investigation and that Natalie, 25, died accidentally from smoke inhalation, according to reports in magazine Private Eye.
The expert Dr Roger Berrett, of Forensic Access, alleged that another expert - an electrical engineer who is now dead - “leaned over backwards” to support the prosecution case, it states in the magazine’s “Miscarriage of Justice” section.
From South Korea, Rhee told the magazine he would maintain his innocence.
The Home Office told the Daily Post it takes the protection of the public “very seriously” and will deport criminals.
A Home Office office spokesman said: “We do not routinely comment on indi- vidual cases.
“Foreign nationals who abuse our hospitality by committing crimes in the UK should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them.
“We take our duty to protect the public very seriously – we have removed more than 24,000 foreign national offenders since 2010”.
While North Wales Police couldn’t comment on the deportation, the Criminal Cases Review Commission said it had looked at Rhee’s conviction repeatedly.
A CCRC spokesman said: “The Commission has considered Mr Rhee’s 1998 murder conviction on three separate occasions; in 2000, 2004 and 2010.
“In spite of having looked into the case in great detail the Commission has been unable to identify grounds upon which to refer Mr Rhee’s conviction back the Court of Appeal.
“The Commission has supplied detailed reasons for its decision in relation to each review in a document called a statement of reasons. Those statements were sent to Mr Rhee and his legal team.”
He added that statutory restrictions placed on the Commission by the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 (Section 23) mean that the CCRC cannot make those documents public.
Rhee and his representatives are able to make them public if they choose to.
Baroness Christine Humphreys said: “I certainly remember this case. It was horrific and everyone was really concerned about the people who owned the cottage.”
She was unable to comment on the validity of Rhee’s claims of innocence but on his deportation, she added: “It is an interesting development.”