http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12518705-1242,00.html
A MAN who confessed to killing two women walked free from court
yesterday when a judge ruled the evidence too damning.
Father-of-two Lyle Simpson admitted being a killer, DNA evidence proved
he was at the scene of one murder and he tried to commit suicide a day
later.
Yet after three days of legal argument in the NSW Supreme Court, Judge
Anthony Whealy ruled some evidence was just too damning and ran the risk
of "unfair prejudice" to the accused.
A married Simpson was accused of murdering mistress Rhonda Buckley, 51,
in September 2001 in Georgetown, Newcastle.
But the family of the victim were devastated by the decision which
enabled Simpson, 45, to go free after 16 months in jail awaiting trial.
Ms Buckley's daughter Suzy Westgarth said: "I am bloody angry, so
angry."
Outside court yesterday, Simpson said: "I'm relieved to go home. I've
got two disabled kids and I just want to live my life and be left alone
by the police.
"I've had a rough time. My wife's been through hell. If you haven't been
in jail you don't know what it's like to be locked up in cells, no TVs
and radios.
"I've never been in trouble before ... I can never replace that 16
months."
The decision comes a day after Senior Deputy Crown Prosecutor Margaret
Cunneen criticised defence lawyers for using "ambush, trickery" to get
criminals off.
Evidence tendered in court showed Simpson phoned his wife Kamara several
times on September 25 and told her he had "killed two sheilas".
In another call, he allegedly said: "I have killed a prostitute, there's
two less sheilas in the world."
Ms Buckley, a grandmother and mother-of-three, was discovered strangled
in her bed by her daughter Suzy and son-in-law Steve Westgarth.
Simpson's DNA - in the form of semen - was found on the body...
--
Fred Stone
aa# 1369
"You know you're over the target when you start receiving flak."
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