THE murder of Geoffrey Leeming remains unsolved after lengthy legal proceedings against his family ended.

JACKIE LEEMING (far left) and her son, Stephen (extreme right), walk away from Teesside Crown Court after being given suspended prison sentences in a fraud case. With them are Jackie's daughter, Jayne (centre), and the family's solicitors, Jackie Knights (second left), Peter Tetlow and Sandra Keene.

Malcolm Herbert arrives at court

But his widow, Jackie Leeming, could face more court action, this time in the High Court, after she walked free at the end of the 21- month murder and fraud case.

Government-appointed trustees acting for her bankrupt son Stephen Leeming are preparing litigation against her.

But Judge Peter Fox QC, at Teesside Crown Court, decided not to order either the Leemings, or their co-accused business associate Malcolm Herbert, to pay anything in court costs or compensation for their criminal activities.

Nor did he order Stephen Leeming to repay the £936 incapacity benefit he got by deceit. And he suspended for two years the nine-month jail sentence he imposed on them. He had earlier indicated he was considering jail terms.

He said he had to consider the consequences all three had suffered after being charged with conspiracy to murder Jackie Leeming's husband Geoffrey and fraudulent trading involving the family firm Leeming Drains Services Ltd. No-one was convicted on either charge.

Barrister Peter Johnson, for Jackie, said she had suffered a "campaign of vilification and innuendo by many of the local residents of the York area".

The head of York CID, Det Chief Insp John Lacy said: "My team take very little satisfaction from this result, because our main objective was always to identify and bring to justice the person, or persons, responsible for the death in October 1996 of Geoffrey Leeming.

"This we have been unable to do.

"All our inquiries revealed that Geoffrey Leeming was a fine man who had no enemies.

"This murder inquiry will remain open and lines of inquiry are being pursued."

Jackie Leeming, aged 56, of Hawthorne Avenue, Haxby, pleaded guilty to two charges of deception in 1996, one involving a £149,000 mortgage on a house in Towthorpe Road, Haxby, and a £10,000 loan she used for the family firm.

Stephen Leeming, aged 33, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to three specimen charges of incapacity benefit fraud in 1996, one of deception involving a £22,800 loan to buy a Toyota convertible car, and two of attempted deceptions involving false insurance claims to finance that and another loan.

Herbert, aged 38, of Stray Road, Heworth, pleaded guilty to deception and attempted deception by providing documents to support the other two in their crimes.

Guy Kearl, prosecuting, said Jackie Leeming told police in July 1997 she had obtained the loans "criminally and dishonestly" and thought the family firm was "to fund loans and her entire lifestyle".

In the nine months before the murder, she obtained £48,800 from it, Stephen Leeming obtained £25,400 and Herbert £18,000, at a time when the firm was struggling to survive financially.

For Stephen Leeming, Nicholas Barker said he was not a sophisticated criminal. He had been a psychiatric out-patient at Bootham Hospital in 1996. "He still found the prospect of a day's work difficult to face," he said.

For Herbert, Taryn Turner said he had had a "misplaced" loyalty to the Leemings.

Geoffrey Leeming's death changed the lives of his family and their business associate Malcolm Herbert for ever. MEGI RYCHLIKOVA looks at what they have done since

ACCORDING to Jackie Leeming's barrister, Peter Johnson, she lived modestly in Haxby until the evening her husband Geoffrey was brutally murdered.

According to the police and the Crown Prosecution Service, she was spending £1,500 a month and had several debts, some dishonest.She and her son Stephen were getting tens of thousands of pounds from the family drainage firm, at a time when it was having difficulty meeting its debts, and she had taken out a loan to support it.

But the police investigation into the murder uncovered her crooked finances and those of her benefit-cheating son Stephen and finished the "modest" life in Linley Avenue, Haxby.

For years they have had to endure accusations that they were behind the death of Geoffrey Leeming in October 1996 for financial reasons.

The police murder case against Jackie and Stephen Leeming, business associate Malcolm Herbert and Jackie's daughter Jayne, was thrown out of court due to a lack of evidence last July, but the accusations continue, some made by local residents to their face.

In the two-and-a-half years since the murder, Stephen has lost his farmhouse home in Stockton-on-Forest, now has no fixed address and prefers wherever possible to keep out of the York area.

Jackie and Jayne, who are still based in Haxby, have moved home several times, on at least one occasion because of local feeling against them.

In autumn 1997, Jayne was so affected by the accusations, she tried to kill herself with a Valium overdose.

Jackie was declared bankrupt just after Easter this year having lost thousands of pounds including the "nest egg" she and her husband had.

Stephen, who was made bankrupt in September 1997, now spends much of his time on the Continent.

He drives lorries loaded with portable buildings, his barrister Nicholas Barker told Teesside Crown Court.

Asked if he liked his job, Stephen replied: "Yes, it keeps me out of York."

He spent ten days in jail on remand accused of murdering his father.

"The whisper campaign, the innuendo has always pointed the finger of blame at Stephen Leeming. It always places the knife that did the killing in his hand," said Mr Barker.

In the year-and-a-half leading up to the murder, his marriage broke up acrimoniously, he suffered from depression and twice tried to kill himself with a paracetamol overdose.

Herbert has perhaps done best at rebuilding his life since he was jointly prosecuted unsuccessfully for murder and fraud. In August 1997, he started working for a rival to Leeming Drains Services Ltd, the company at the heart of the fraud investigation.

As regional sales manager, the married family man gets £20,000 a year plus bonuses and a company car.

But like Jackie and Stephen Leeming, he now has a nine month jail sentence hanging over him for the next two years and convictions for deception.

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