THE wife of one of the men convicted of the murder of TV comedian Mark Levy has protested his innocence and vowed to clear his name.

Kelly Merceica, whose husband Joseph was given a life sentence for his part in the killing of the Big Breakfast personality, said that they would appeal against what she condemned as an "unfair verdict".

Merceica, of Brancker Road, Kenton, and Patrick Smith of Elmfield Close, Harrow-on-the-Hill, were each sentenced to life on July 19 for the murder of Mr Levy in January 2000. Smith and Mr Levy had fallen out over the proceeds of cigarette smuggling.

An Old Bailey jury was told that Levy, whose body has never been found, had been tricked into meeting a member of Smith's gang at a factory where he was tortured by gang members before being driven to a farm in Buckinghamshire and murdered.

"My husband is innocent," said Mrs Merceica. "This is a very, very poor miscarriage of justice. It can be proved that most of what was said was lies as the facts speak for themselves. A lot of the evidence was cherrypicked and police tried to cover up many things which could have helped the defence case.

"First, they said that the victim was minced and eaten, and then that his body was burned and buried. It took two trials lasting 24 days for two sets of jurors to make their minds up, which they did in the last eight minutes of the trial. How can anyone decide something like that in just eight minutes?

"It is really scary and unbelievable that this can happen to someone. My husband has been sentenced to life for a crime he did not commit. I believe in justice, but it is unfair. I want a full enquiry."

July 30, 2002 17:30