I’m not a murderer and I will prove it
Court Reporter CONVICTED murderer Martyn Burke today sensationally claimed police have got the wrong man and vowed to prove his innocence from behind bars.
In a letter written in Durham Prison, the 28-year-old dad insisted it was someone else who battered Andrew Keenan to death in Wallsend in a “punishment beating”.
Burke was found guilty of murder by a jury after a trial at Newcastle Crown Court and was last month told he must serve at least 18 years of a life sentence behind bars.
The judge who sentenced him said he was sure another man was involved in the attack but only Burke was arrested and charged.
Now Burke has contacted the Chronicle offering to take a lie detector test to prove his innocence and vowing to appeal his conviction.
He wrote: “You recently wrote an article on me for the murder of Andrew Keenan. This will be a very brief and straight-to-the-point letter.
“You have heard a certain account from the trial. I have been wrongly convicted for a crime.
“In this case I will be appealing and also requesting my QC organises a lie detector test which I will gladly show you the results, once done.
“I would like to put my side of the story out there because the wrong man is in jail.
“Yes, I should be punished for certain things but murder is not one of them.
“I am truly, deeply sorry for Andrew’s family’s loss and I couldn’t comprehend the grief and heartbreak they are suffering. “I want the truth to be known.” Burke went on to criticise the police investigation and claimed officers were “fixated” on him.
He said: “I think in light of certain events the police have failed in securing crucial evidence as they had ample chances, they were just fixated on me.
“They have passed their mistakes on to me as they won’t want to be liable for.”
After Burke was jailed, we revealed how a judge said a second alleged participant in the street beating has yet to be caught.
A court heard a cover-up to try to deflect the police’s attention meant an opportunity to collect potentially crucial forensic evidence was lost.
The trial heard Andrew, 28, was murdered last July after Burke believed he had stolen some of his cannabis farm crop.
The victim died a “slow and lingering death over the course of several hours” after suffering multiple injuries, including a torn spleen.
As a judge locked Burke up, he said in his view is there was a second perpetrator.
Judge Paul Sloan QC said: “I take
the view a second man was involved in this incident and has not been brought to justice.”
The judge said an associate of Burke’s was in the street on July 31 last year when Andrew was chased and attacked.
He told Burke: “An associate of yours, who you say was also involved in the cannabis grow, also happened to be in the street at that moment.
“Mr Keenan immediately ran and you, Burke, and your associate gave chase.
“I’m in no doubt, on the evidence from the trial, that the pair of you caught Mr Keenan in a back lane and there he was subjected to a prolonged and brutal attack.”
Andrew, a cleaner at Newcastle Airport, was told he must pay £10,000 by the following day “or he would be dead”, the court heard.
But though he staggered away, he was fatally injured and died at Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Cramlington.
Judge Sloan said he was “in no doubt” a second man was involved and if the police had not been misled “when forensic opportunities were still available, that second man may not have escaped prosecution”.
Jamie Hill QC, for Burke, said: “He still maintains that, although present, he did not play any part.
“His greater concern is for his partner and child.”
A spokeswoman for Northumbria Police said: “A thorough investigation was conducted following Andrew’s death for which six people were sentenced. Officers are continuing with their enquiries in connection with his murder.
“Any other persons who may later be found to have had an involvement in Andrew’s death bears no relevance on the conviction of Martyn Burke, who was rightly found guilty of murder by a jury in Crown Court.”
Burke, of Bewicke Road, Willington Quay, Wallsend, was found guilty of murder and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. He had previously admitted producing cannabis. He was jailed for life and must serve at least 18 years.
Burke’s girlfriend, Katie Maguire, 31, of Bewicke Road, was convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and admitted producing cannabis. She was jailed for two years and 11 months.
Danny Cockburn, 20, of Vine Street, Wallsend, Paula Campbell, 39, of Maple Court, Killingworth, Philip Hatch, 40, of High Street East, Wallsend and a 17-year-old all admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Cockburn was jailed for 15 months, Campbell got 14 months, Hatch got 12 months and the teenager got a youth rehabilitation order with supervision and rehabilitation.