Kevin Nunes

Kevin Nunes was shot and beaten.

His body was found in a country road in Pattingham on 9 September 2002. He had been shot five times and beaten so severely that the injuries from the beating alone would have been enough to cause his death.

Five men were tried and convicted for his murder but later acquitted after it was found that their convictions were unsafe and that there were questions over the credibility of a main prosecution witness.

Kevin Nunes was a drug dealer. He had been picked up earlier in a car from an address in Wolverhampton and was next found dead in the country lane.

At the trial of the five men it was heard that the men, who had been in two separate gangs had joined forces to kill Kevin Nunes because he was dealing drugs in their territory. It was said that the men, two of whom had just come out of jail, arranged for someone that Kevin Nunes trusted to meet up with him and that the man then drove Kevin Nunes to the Fox Inn where the other men then presented themselves. It was said that they then took Kevin Nunes by gun point to a remote location where they shot him with two guns and beat him to death.

All of the men other than one denied being at the Fox Inn. It was said that one of the men had made a confession to the murder whilst in prison although he denied it and it was not the prosecution’s case that the man had even been present at the time of the murder. However, the police had said that it was indicative of his complicity in the matter and that he had 'bigged' himself and his role in the murder up to impress the other prisoner.

The appeal heard that there were discrepancies with the way the witnesses had been treated with one of the men that gave evidence for the prosecution not being convicted even though his complicity was technically similar to one of the other men who was convicted and sentenced to 27 years. It was also heard that a report, known as the Costello Report had been prepared long before their main murder trial and made it clear that a particular police inspector was in a position to give evidence that would have undermined the credibility of  the main witness, but that the report was kept secret and he didn't give the evidence.

After the five men had their convictions quashed four police chiefs were investigated for misconduct in the case.

A fresh investigation into his murder was launched in March 2019 but it was concluded that the main suspect could not be prosecuted because of the police failings in the initial inquiry. The fresh investigation was carried out by a team of detectives that had no links with the original investigation with the remit of carrying out a 'robust and thorough' re-investigation of the case. They concluded by presenting a report on a main suspect to the Crown Prosecution Service, but the CPS said that they could not pursue the prosecution because of the failings in the original investigation, saying that 'it would be an abuse of the legal process to do so'.