THOMAS BOWMAN

WALLASEY MAN LOSES APPEAL OVER WIFE’S 1978 MURDER

A 62-year-old man named Thomas Bowman, living on Prenton Village Road in Birkenhead, Merseyside, has been sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of the 1978 murder of his wife, Mary Bowman.

Throughout the process, Bowman maintained he was innocent, denying any involvement in her death by strangulation at their Wallasey home.

His conviction was delivered in July 2002 by Preston Crown Court, largely based on the testimony of their daughter, Diane, who claimed to have seen her mother’s murder as a young child.

Diane later revealed that she had repressed her memories of the event until therapy sessions brought them back more than 20 years later.

Bowman appealed his conviction, asserting it was unsafe, but the Court of Appeal rejected his plea.

A controversial aspect of the trial involved the evidence from a prosecution-hired pathologist, which Bowman's lawyers argued could have influenced the jury improperly.

The three-judge panel upheld the original verdict, citing sufficient grounds for the murder conviction.

Bowman did not attend the court as the decision was announced.