Advertisement

Chinese criminal convicted of murdering reclusive author following secret trial loses appeal at European Court

Allan Chappelow was found dead in his Hampstead home in 2006 - PA
Allan Chappelow was found dead in his Hampstead home in 2006 - PA

A Chinese national convicted of murdering a reclusive British author in Hampstead more than a decade ago has lost his appeal at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Wang Yam was found guilty in 2009 of killing Allan Chappelow, whose body was found in his dilapidated home three years earlier.

His murder trial became the first in the UK to be heard partly in secret after the Home Secretary at the time said it was necessary to protect national security.

But Yam went to the ECHR arguing that the secrecy around the trial meant the conviction was unsafe.

In a ruling handed down on Thursday morning however, ECHR judges unanimously said there had been "no violation" of Yam's right to a fair trial under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Wang Yam was convicted of murder in 2009
Wang Yam was convicted of murder in 2009

They also ruled the UK did not fail to comply with its obligations under Article 34 of the Convention by not disclosing to the ECHR the evidence that was heard behind closed doors at the Old Bailey in 2009.

The body of Mr Chappelow, 87, an award winning author and photographer, was found at his home at 9 Downshire Hill in Hampstead in 2006.

He studied at Trinity College Cambridge where he won the Hooper Prize for writing and later wrote books about George Bernard Shaw.

For a time he worked as a photographer for The Daily Telegraph and was a member of the Royal Academy of Arts.

When his body was found it was hidden under a huge pile of newspapers and took several days to recover.

Allan Chappelow's body was hidden under a huge pile of newspapers - Credit: PA
Allan Chappelow's body was hidden under a huge pile of newspapers Credit: PA

Police subsequently discovered that money had been taken from his bank account by a Chinese man, who was identified as Wang Yam.

Yam claimed to have arrived in Britain after fleeing mainland China in the 1990s following the Tiananmen Square massacre.

While in Britain he managed to rack up more than a million pounds in debts and after the murder fled the country, but was later arrested in Switzerland.

But much of his background was never fully revealed due to reporting restrictions that were imposed on the case.

One theory put forward for the secrecy surrounding the case was that Yam was a low level informant for the security services and evidence about this was to be relied upon by his defence.

During the trial, his barrister, Geoffrey Robertson QC, argued that Mr Chappelow could have been murdered by an Albanian crime gang.

Yam was convicted of murder on 16 of January, exactly 11-years ago, and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he serve at least 20-years before being eligible for parole.