Scott Law
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Richard Coubrough, Alias The Snake, DeadKiller, 74, dies before appeal date
A PENSIONER has died before the final hearing of an appeal to clear his name over a notorious murder committed 37 years ago.
But Richard Coubrough's fight to have the conviction quashed may be continued from beyond the grave.
Judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh were told lawyers acting for Coubrough are to try to identify a suitable person to apply to the court to continue with the case.
His counsel Chris Shead said Coubrough's last instructions were that he wished the matter to go ahead after his death.
Coubrough, 74, dubbed "The Snake" because of his surname's likeness to cobra, fell ill and died 10 days ago, the court heard.
He was jailed for life in 1971 at the High Court in Glasgow for murdering mother-of-two Dorothea Meechan, 37, by strangling her with his hands in Renfrew in February that year.
Mrs Meechan had left a family party in the town at midnight to walk home via a railway bridge but failed to return home.
Her naked body was found six weeks later by boys playing at a disused railway shed about 2000 yards from the footbridge.
Coubrough, who lived at Dunvegan Quadrant, in Renfrew, at the time of the murder, denied committing the crime and robbing her of a handbag, rings and a necklace, but was convicted by a majority verdict at his trial.
He represented himself at a hearing seeking leave to appeal in 1971 after he was refused legal aid, but his bid to have a challenge to his conviction heard at the time was rejected.
But in 2005 his case was referred back to the appeal court by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which was set up to look into alleged miscarriages of justice.
Coubrough served 34 years in the prison system before being freed on bail pending the challenge being heard.
He emerged from jail as one of Scotland's longest-serving prisoners as a small, dapper elderly figure who was regularly at the appeal court in Edinburgh.
Appeal judges earlier rejected part of his appeal, but a substantial part of the case focusing on alleged misdirection by the trial judge, Lord Migdale, remained to be heard and was due to resume today.
Mr Shead told Lord Osborne, sitting with Lady Paton and Lord Carloway: "This case was set down for a hearing to try to dispose of the remaining grounds of appeal. The court has been told the appellant has died."
The counsel said it was under consideration whether an application could be made for a person with a legitimate interest or an executor of the deceased to proceed with the appeal.
Lord Osborne said: "It would seem appropriate to afford a reasonable time for the matter to be explored."
He said they would have the case called again later in the year to find out whether it was to proceed.
Publication date 09/07/08
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