TEN YEARS AGO TODAY: Holes in the Entwistle case? 'Reasonable doubt' surrounds Worksop murderer's conviction, says former detective
Duncan Mcnab, now a true crime author and journalist based in Sydney, says he can “see reasonable doubt” behind Entwistle’s conviction due to the fact that key evidence “was not explored” during his trial.
He is now considering writing a book about the case, which he has branded “one of those bloody mysteries you can’t get out of your mind.”
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Entwistle is currently serving life imprisonment in a medium-security prison in Massachusetts, after his American wife Rachel and nine-month-old daughter Lillian were found shot dead in their Boston home in 2006.
The Worksop man, who grew up in Kilton, has always claimed he discovered their bodies after running an errand, and that Rachel had shot her daughter before turning the gun on herself.
Aged 27 at the time, Entwistle did not alert the authorites after the killings, but instead covered the bodies with bedding before boarding a plane back to his native England.
Mr Mcnab, who has visited Entwistle in prison, insists that this speedy escape does not prove that Entwistle was guilty of the crimes.
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He told Boston newspaper Metro West Daily News: ““We spent two hours talking. I liked him after talking to him. He’s a product of his environment. He comes from a small, hard-working community.
“He’s the first person who agrees he did something that was bizarre. How do you know what you would do when you walk in and find what he found? How the hell do you know how you’d react?”
Rachel’s mental health around the time of her death was not addressed during the trail, claims Mcnab, which could have revealed she was suffering from post-natal depression.
Mr Mcnab added that Entwistle had told him Rachel was having problems after the birth of her child and that he “should have done something earlier.”
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Entwistle’s parents, Clifford and Yvonne, have always protested their son’s innocence and it is understood they continue to do so.
In 2013, the couple contacted British Foreign Secretary William Hague, claiming that the US authorities were keeping the truth “very well hidden.”
They said: “Our son Neil is innocent and did not receive a fair trial.The way he was treated in jail pre-trial by the authorities is too distressing to put into words. All Neil’s human rights were violated.”