THE GRIEVING sister of a murdered North Yorkshire man told today how his family felt cheated of justice.

Barbara Sherwood said she and her relatives were angry that a legal decision meant the killer of her brother, David Williamson, would probably never be brought to book.

Barbara Sherwood, of York, spoke to the Evening Press after addressing an inquest into Mr Williamson's death.

She told the coroner, Michael Oakley, of the family's frustration when a judge ruled that an alleged confession from Ripon man James Payling was inadmissible because of flaws in police procedures.

Mr Justice Royce also found that a second confession by Payling could not be accepted and the trial at Leeds Crown Court collapsed in July.

Speaking at her York home after the inquest, Mrs Sherwood told the Evening Press that the trauma she and her parents, Olive and Isaac Williamson, of Huntington, had suffered was unending.

"We are going to have to live with it now," she said.

Mr Williamson, 58, was found lying unconscious in a lane only a few hundred yards from his home in Sutton-on-the-Forest, near Easingwold, on the morning of March 26, 2001.

He suffered a fractured skull after being struck from behind with a blunt instrument as he walked home from a party at the Star Inn, at Huby.

He later died at Leeds General Infirmary as a result of his injuries.

The death sparked a massive police investigation involving a team of 25 officers, with an appeal on BBC Crimewatch and the offer of a £5,000 reward on Crimestoppers, plus extensive DNA testing of hundreds of local men.

Payling allegedly eventually confessed to the killing in January 2002 as officers interviewed him in a cell at York Police Station, in Fulford Road, where he was being held in connection with eight other offences.

But this evidence was later deemed inadmissible because a caution had not been in place since the start of the conversation and certain forms were not signed. North Yorkshire Police said they would review their interview procedures in the light of the ruling.

Mr Oakley yesterday recorded a verdict of unlawful killing on Mr Williamson's death, which he described as "the only verdict available."

The coroner said that it was unusual to resume an inquest in these circumstances, but he had felt it important to do so because there had not been a public airing of exactly how Mr Williamson died.

After the inquest, Mrs Sherwood stressed that the family had no bad feeling towards North Yorkshire Police and said she would like to thank the officers who had worked on the case.

"They have been very good to us," she said. "As I told the inquest, the family are just upset and angry that it was not left to the jury to decide whether the police procedures were relevant or not."

Investigating officer Detective Constable Clive Wakefield told the inquest that the police were not looking for anyone else in connection with the death.

Updated: 10:46 Wednesday, November 19, 2003