Jewel thief who battered war vet, 79, and mum, 83, to death in their own homes 20 years ago is jailed for life
A JEWEL thief who murdered two pensioners 20 years ago in a case that made legal history has been jailed for life. Michael Weir, 53, brutally battered war veteran Leonard Harris, 78, and mother-of-three Rose Seferian, 83, to death in their own homes during burglaries in January and March 1998. The two deaths were not linked […]
A JEWEL thief who murdered two pensioners 20 years ago in a case that made legal history has been jailed for life.
Michael Weir, 53, brutally battered war veteran Leonard Harris, 78, and mother-of-three Rose Seferian, 83, to death in their own homes during burglaries in January and March 1998.
The two deaths were not linked after police failed to match Weir’s palm print to one recovered from the Harris home in 1998.
Weir was convicted of Mr Harris’s murder and burglary plus the attack on Mrs Harris in 1999.
But his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal on a technicality in 2000.
Cold-blooded Weir, from Hackney, north-east London, stole a signet ring and gold watch from Mr Harris and ripped diamond rings from Ms Seferian’s fingers.
He was tried for Ms Seferian’s killing after new forensic evidence came to light, and re-tried for Mr Harris’ murder following a change to the double jeopardy law in 2005.
The Weir case is believed to be a legal first of a defendant convicted twice for the same offence, following an acquittal in the Court of Appeal.
Furthermore, DNA testing that was not available in 1998 has now linked Weir to the murders.
On Monday, Weir was handed life in prison with a minimum of 30 years after being found guilty of both murders by an Old Bailey jury in November this year.
During sentencing, Mrs Justice McGowan said: “For the families, it’s impossible to understand the extent of their grief but it is not difficult to understand their sense of loss and outrage.
“You killed their parents, they died terrified – killed for items of jewellery.”
THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY CASE THAT MADE LEGAL HISTORY
In 1998, the jury were told the first case against Weir for Mr Harris's murder was built on DNA incorrectly stored on a police database.
The original trial judge ruled the evidence was admissible – but the decision was overturned by appeal judges and Weir’s conviction was quashed.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) missed a deadline to appeal to the House of Lords by a day.
But the Lords later found that, in a similar case as well as Weir’s, the original decision to admit the DNA was correct.
Weir was charged again over Mr Harris’s death due to a change in the double jeopardy law in 2005.
The Weir case is believed to be a legal first of a defendant convicted twice for the same offence, following an acquittal in the Court of Appeal.
The case was also unique as Weir faced a second murder charge in addition to the original murder.
As Weir was convicted, Mrs Justice McGowan told jurors – who had not been told of Weir’s previous conviction over Mr Harris’s death or the circumstances of his retrial – that they had made legal history.
During the new trial, the jury heard how on January 28 1998, Weir broke into Mr Harris’s flat in East Finchley, north London.
He stole an 18-carat gold Zenith watch and a gold ring and left the pensioner with head injuries.
Three days later, police found a palm print on the bedroom door but missed the match to the defendant because a comparative print was not good quality.
A blood sample from the Harris’ hallway revealed DNA belonging to both Mrs Harris and the defendant.
A blood stained glove was also found outside the flat containing Weir’s DNA.
Then on March 5, 1998, Ms Seferian was set upon in her flat in Kensington, west London, which she shared with her three children.
Weir violently assaulted the pensioner in her bedroom while she was alone and stole rings and cash.
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Ms Seferian managed to raise the alarm and her son found her covered in blood and “almost unrecognisable” from her injuries.
A palm print was recovered from inside Ms Seferian’s flat on a window frame where Weir broke in but it was not matched to the defendant until 2017.
By 2018, new DNA evidence in the Harris murder had been obtained and the palm prints from both scenes had been matched to the defendant.
