Child killer Raymond Morris to die in jail

Child killer Raymond Morris has scrapped plans to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights and will die in jail the Express & Star can reveal today.

His legal team today confirmed his bid for freedom had ended.

Morris was considering making an application to Strasbourg after his bid for an appeal was rejected at London's Royal Courts of Justice in February.

Cheryl Kirk, spokeswoman for solicitors Norrie Waite & Slater, today confirmed the killer had given up on his fight for freedom.

It means he will die behind bars.

"It was the plan to go to the European Court of Human Rights and there were discussions about that, but it has come to an end," she said.

Morris, a serving prisoner at HMP Wymott in Preston, has been in jail for 42 years for the murder of seven-year-old Walsall schoolgirl Christine Darby in 1967.

He is also the prime suspect in the killings of schoolgirls Margaret Reynolds of Aston in Birmingham and Diane Tift from Bloxwich, found on Cannock Chase.

The divorced father-of-two, who used to live in Green Lane, Walsall, has maintained his innocence over the decades. He was said to be "extremely disappointed" with the outcome of the ruling in February.

Morris's legal team spent seven years reviewing his 1969 conviction but the independent Criminal Cases Review Commission rejected his bid for an appeal in June.

The former engineer's solicitors then secured a judicial review of that decision – but his claim was rejected by Mr Justice Simon at the Royal Courts on February 7.

The killer's appeal was based on his claims there was evidence of alleged police misconduct in respect to his conviction. The cases of five-year-old Diane and six-year-old Margaret remain on file to this day.

By Elizabeth Joyce