Killer’s ‘illegal’appeal quashed

Christopher Hunnisett, 31, of Hastings, battered and strangled 57-year-old Peter Bick to death on a bed at his home in Bexhill in 2011. Hunnisett claimed he did it to prevent Mr Bick from abusing children - although there was no evidence the victim was a sex offender.

He was convicted of murder at Woolwich Crown Court in May 2012 and jailed for life.

Previously he had been convicted - but later acquitted after an appeal - of the killing of a vicar he said had abused him as a child.

Today, he launched another Court of Appeal bid to clear his name, but his case was thrown out of court by three top judges.

Lord Justice Burnett said Hunnisett had lodged 105 pages of hand-written grounds of appeal, based on a claim that the killing was not actually illegal. He said: “At the heart of his case at trial, and reproduced in the grounds of appeal, is the proposition that he acted to prevent the deceased committing sexual criminal offences against young people.

“It is a striking feature of the hand-written grounds, which extend to 105 pages, that he suggests that he was entitled as a matter of law to kill Mr Bick to prevent him from committing criminal offences. The notion is preposterous.”

Upholding his conviction for the murder of Mr Bick, Lord Justice Burnett, Mr Justice Gilbart and Judge Richard Griffith-Jones today said there was ‘no substance’ in his claims that he did not receive a fair trial.