'Yardie left free to rape and murder'

Lack of evidence prevented a Yardie gangster being arrested and deported before he raped and killed a young mother, the Appeal Court heard today.

Immigration officer Brian Fotheringham claimed a lack of resources prevented him gathering enough to detain Delroy Denton.

Denton, 41, is appealing against conviction for the 1995 murder of Marcia Lawes on grounds that the trial judge did not know he was a paid police informant. He was recruited by Scotland Yard after being arrested in a drugs raid on the Atlantic pub in Brixton in May 1993.

Mr Fotheringham today denied encouraging Denton to become an informant on the promise it would help him win asylum. He denied telling Denton to use a false name when in court on charges of possessing a dangerous weapon.

Mr Fotheringham agreed he had visited Denton in Brixton in 1992. However, Mr Fotheringham, now retired, told the court: "He was not an [immigration] overstayer at that stage. I did not have the resources to fully investigate him ... and his criminal background in Jamaica. I was one man working alone."

After the Atlantic raid, Mr Fotheringham identified him to police as being by now an illegal immigrant. Mr Fotheringham told the court he suggested police use him as an informant while his asylum application was heard.

Denton was later alleged to have raped a girl of 15. Charges were dropped for lack of evidence.

In April 1995 Miss Lawes was murdered. Denton was convicted and jailed for life.

Denton's appeal counsel claims a key trial witness had a grudge against him because he had informed on her uncle but this fact did not emerge at the original trial. The hearing continues.