A KILLER battling to get his prison sentence overturned refused to take a lie detector test.

Swindon man Glyn Razzell had told the makers of BBC2’s Conviction programme he was willing to take the polygraph.

But when campaigners from Inside Justice, working with the BBC, arranged for one of Europe’s top polygraph operators to visit him in prison, Razzell refused to take the test.

The 58-year-old, from Highworth, who was convicted in 2003 of murdering wife Linda, said: “It won’t help me with my appeal. The court doesn’t recognise it. It just takes it down to Jeremy Kyle levels.”

Louise Shorter, chief executive of miscarriage of justice charity Inside Justice, later confronts Razzell on the phone: “Are you worried you’d fail it?” “I’m worried about the consequences of a false positive,” he replies.

Visibly angry, Ms Shorter tells the camera: “This is the first time anyone’s ever managed to get an expert into the prison. That’s when he said, on reflection, I’m not going to do this.”

Apologetic, Razzell tells Ms Shorter: “I know I’ve wasted everybody’s time and I feel terrible for that. I just can’t see the benefits. It’s not going to help my appeal and if I fail it it’s an absolute disaster.”

Razzell has always protested his innocence and twice failed to get his conviction overturned. In 2003, a Bristol jury unanimously found him guilty of murdering estranged wife Linda, then 41. Her body has never been found.

The couple were going through an acrimonious divorce at the time of Linda’s disappearance, with the mum-of-four winning a court order to freeze his finances. Razzell believes he was set up by his wife, claiming her or associates planted her blood in the boot of a Renault Laguna car he was driving that day.

But in the two-part Convicted programme, experts working with Inside Justice could find little evidence to back up Razzell’s claims.

Prof Denise Syndercombe-Court, who analysed blood spatters left in the car, said: “Planting doesn’t seem very likely to me. It seems more likely she was injured and she was imprisoned in the boot after she was injured.”

Other forensics experts backed the police investigation into Linda Razzell’s death, saying the work to establish if she was still alive had been thorough. Linda has not been heard from since 2002.

The programme probed a potential link between Linda and convicted taxi driver killer Christopher Halliwell.

Justice campaigner Karen Edwards, mother of Halliwell victim Karen Godden-Edwards, said several people had approached her to say Linda Razzell was having an affair with the former taxi-driver.

It was claimed Halliwell had been working on the Razzell’s extension when he met Linda and began an affair. Family court papers from the time show Linda was involved with the main building contractor, but make no mention of Halliwell.

But the Inside Justice campaigners could find no evidence linking the pair together. Wiltshire Police said its detectives were not able to find items belonging to Linda in Halliwell’s trophy store of clothing belonging to suspected victims.

Louise Shorter told camera crews the huge effort involved in digging through the case: “It was right that we should investigate the strands of evidence...Our work has led to very definite and serious answers. I’m glad we took it on.”

On Glyn Razzell, she said: “I don’t think Glyn will ever say anything other that the thing he’s said for 15 years.”

Razzell thanked the programme makers: “I’m very grateful for the work you have done, even though it’s not got all the results I thought it might. Thank you ever so much for everything you’ve done.” Razzell comes to the end of his 16 year sentence in 2019.

Conviction is available on the BBC iPlayer.

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

Tuesday, March 19, 2002: The last time Linda Razzell, 41, is seen by her children and boyfriend. She drives from Highworth to Old Walcot, where the Swindon College learning support assistant parks her Ford Escort on Alvescot Road. She never arrives at work. Her mobile phone is later recovered from a nearby alleyway. That morning, Glyn Razzell claims he takes a long walk. His apparent route takes him past Westlea police station. The car he drives later that day, a Renault Laguna, has been loaned to him by a friend who has borrowed Razzell’s Ford Galaxy people carrier for a booze cruise to France.

Friday, May 17: Razzell is charged with the murder of his wife.

Friday, September 20: He appears at Bristol Crown Court, where he pleaded not guilty to his wife’s murder. At a hearing in November, a Bristol judge bailed Razzell and adjourned the case until the following summer.

Saturday, November 15, 2003: Razzell is convicted for murder after a month-long trial. The jury decides unanimously that he is guilty.

Friday, March 11, 2005: A bid to have his sentence overturned fails, as Razzell is unable to provide the court with fresh DNA evidence. Judge Kenneth Zucker QC rules the conviction to be perfectly safe.

Monday, March 17, 2008: Mr Justice Pitchers tells Razzell he must serve at least 16 years in prison. Razzell had taken his case for review at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.