Insert Shock Headline Here

“BUS-STOP KILLER'S CAR-CLAMPING GANG OF PAEDOPHILES AND MURDERERS”!

Noel's Police Mugshot 

That’s one of the first stories that screams out at you on a web-search for the name ‘Noel Moran’. There’s no doubt about it, the headline is a ‘Daily Mail classic. You can also see by the Mail picture editor's judicious selection of a police station mug-shot (left) that ‘Samurai-Killer’ Moran is a clearly dangerous individual.

We are then told in salacious tones that “Killer Levi Bellfield led a car-clamping gang of thugs, paedophiles and murderers which preyed on motorists across the South-East.... Bellfield's gang of villains: Paedophile Vic Kelly, Suraj Gharu, jailed for having sex with a 14-year-old girl and Samurai sword killer Noel Moran."

And there it was; just that like that, on a mean-spirited journalistic whim: forever fixed in the minds of a large section of the public, was the inference that Noel Moran was not just a coincidental working colleague of a convicted murderer but rather he was part of a gang of deviants... 'Samurai sword killer'? That, in the Mail-readers' minds, was probably only the tip of the iceberg.

Doubtless there are people out there who would say ‘It’s the Daily Mail fer chrissakes! Whaddya expect?’ They’re probably right; what, after all would you expect from a pig but a grunt? What is distressing however is just how much at odds with the truth the media’s picture turns out to be. 


Noel Moran's life since 2006 has been a nightmare of guilt by association. Guitly of murder by association in the courts and then doubly guilty by association with a figure of hate through the media's insinuations.

Noel Moran was found guilty of murder on a joint enterprise, a conviction he has contested from the start. His interactions with Levi Bellfield have never been shown to be anything other than the day-to-day dealings of work colleagues.

The nightmare began for Moran on the night of 2nd January 2006. Noel and his co defendant (and former friend Gavin Ward) went to visit a third mutual friend named Christopher Mills.

On arrival at Mr Mills’ flat, without warning or prior notice to Noel, Ward produced a samurai sword from the back of his car.

He then charged ahead, kicked in the front door, proceeded upstairs to a bedroom wherein he stabbed Christopher Mills in the thigh. That blow ultimately proved to be fatal, severing as it did, Christopher Mills’ femoral artery.

Noel Moran has consistently maintained that he “knew nothing of Ward’s intentions and was in effect powerless to prevent the occurrence of this deadly assault.”

Circumstances aside, because, and let’s have it right, the judiciary would see this, prima facie at any rate, as a textbook joint enterprise and would even point to Moran’s subsequent panic and flight to Ireland in terms of guilty conduct. So far, so cut and dried.

However, it’s when you drill down into the evidence and procedure you begin to see that there are some real problems with the case. Too many to list so I’ll cherry pick a couple of my favourite screamers.

Noel is initially witnessed not carrying a sword and then in an inexplicable volte-face several days later, the witness decided to change their statement to the effect that both men were carrying swords, the original statement taken by police at the scene having apparently been lost.

Then there is the fact Noel and his co-defendant were the subject of three trials between them for the murder of Christopher Mills. Their first joint trial was abandoned for reasons that have never been satisfactorily explained to Moran. Thereafter, Ward was tried separately and found guilty of murder. I may not be a qualified lawyer but I do feel that there might be something a wee bit prejudicial in the trial of one co-defendant in a joint enterprise after the other has already been found guilty in a separate procedure.

Like I said, the litany of anomalies is long and Noel, currently incarcerated at HMP Swaleside on the Isle of Sheppey, is working day and night on his own appeal. He has a lot of heart and as a prisoner maintaining his innocence, he needs it.

Prisons (naturally enough) don’t like prisoners who maintain innocence;  a huge part of the penal system is based on the prisoner acknowledging the crime and his own wrongdoing.

So it’s through the petty withholding of discretionary privileges –things like being able to apply for a laptop or electric typewriter to prepare for an appeal – that the prison exerts its pressure.

Moran is bright and forthright and he is aware that every day is a struggle to keep his eyes on the prize, however far away that might seem from his prison cell. Slowly but surely over the past couple of years, momentum has begun to gather around Noel’s case. His family has been working tirelessly on his behalf, a website has been set up and a number of campaigning groups have taken an interest in this fledgling crusade.

Noel Moran in happier times 

“The Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas has been in close contact with Noel Moran since his conviction,” an ICPO spokesperson told The Rusty Wire Service yesterday.

Breda Power first came to public prominence when she campaigned tirelessly for the release of her father Billy Power and five other Irish men collectively known as the Birmingham Six. Breda has been a supporter of Noel’s cause since her days at ICPO and she continues to play a prominent role in his mounting campaign.

“As the daughter of one of the Birmingham six my experience of miscarriage of justice cases is vast. Noel's case is only one of half a dozen cases I have felt compelled to become involved in over the years and have no hesitation in saying he is innocent,” Ms Power wrote on Noel's website. “I have visited Noel in prison and met his family; without a shadow of doubt Noel is a victim of this henious crime.”