A MAN whose murder conviction is considered potentially “one of the last great miscarriages of justice from the 1970s” took his 45-year fight to clear his name to the High Court yesterday .

Paul Cleeland, now 75, spent 26 years behind bars for the murder of his friend Terry Clarke, who was shot twice in the early hours of November 5 1972 as he and his wife returned to their home in Stevenage.

Mr Cleeland was convicted of murder at his retrial – at which he represented himself – and sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in jail, but he has always maintained his innocence.