COURT of appeal judges will decide if a Great Sankey man was wrongly jailed for more than 20 years for the attempted murder of a nine-year-old boy.

Paul Blackburn, who was aged only 15 when he was convicted at Chester Crown Court in December 1978, takes his case to the Court of Appeal on May 24 and 25.

Glyn Maddocks, Blackburn's solicitor, said: "We are all very hopeful that justice will finally be delivered to Paul Blackburn.

"The appeal follows a long and extensive review of the original case by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent public body established in 1997 to investigate miscarriages of justice.

"In the original trial, Mr Justice Bristow stressed the importance that the 15-year-old Paul did not get 'lost in the criminal justice system'. This is exactly what did happen.

"Throughout the past 27 years, he

has consistently maintained his innocence for a crime pinned on him as a young boy.

"Hopefully the appeal court will consider very carefully the huge weight of evidence which, in our view, makes it clear beyond doubt that the conviction in 1978 was unsafe."

Blackburn originally confessed to

the crime to police officers, but there was no forensic evidence linking him to the crime, no eye-witnesses and the victim was unable to identify his attacker.

Blackburn was sentenced to be held 'at her majesty's pleasure', and served 25 years in 18 different prisons, maintaining his innocence throughout.