AMERICAN Michael Austin - serving life for ordering the murder of Chorley accountant David Wilson in 1992 - has lost his bid to appeal against his conviction.

And the two hired hitmen - Michael Crossley and Stephen James Playle, both of Kent - have failed in their second bid to appeal against their convictions for the murder.

Austin's application was dismissed by three appeal court judges at Woolwich Crown Court last week.

Michael Hill QC, representing 42-year-old Austin, said there had been an "imbalance" during Mr Justice Popplewell's summing up at the murder trial at Liverpool Crown Court last year. Mr Hill said the judge's examination of aspects of details of the £27m fake cigarette fraud, over which Austin and Mr Wilson fell out, was "unnecessary and obscured the real issues."

But Mr Justice Butterfield said the reasons for the application being thrown out would be revealed at a later date to be fixed.

Publican Crossley, aged 34, and Falklands War veteran Playle, 35, were jailed for life last April.

Lord Justice Evans, sitting with Mr Justice Blofeld and Mr Justice Forbes, announced the decision on the appeal bid in the Criminal Appeal Court in London.

He said neither on the particular grounds or on a general survey of the evidence could they say the convictions could be regarded as unsafe.

Another man, arms dealer Stephen Schepke, aged 47, from Kent, is also serving a life sentence for arranging the killing.

Mr Wilson, aged 47, was executed in cold blood in the garage of his luxury Withnell Villa home. His hands were bound and he was shot twice in the back of the head. His devastated widow Barbara died suddenly last year after collapsing at a trial hearing.

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