Soldier killer loses prison sentence appeal

Jun 20 2007

A BIRMINGHAM man serving life for the murder of a soldier who was shot dead hours after arriving back in the UK on leave has lost an appeal against his conviction.

Narel Sharpe, who had served in Kosovo and Iraq, was shot in a street in Smethwick after he fought back when Levi Walker tried to steal his gold chain in September 2004.

Walker, now 28, who has to serve a minimum of 30 years before he is eligible to apply for parole, had his conviction challenge dismissed by Lord Justice Hooper, Mr Justice Holman and Mr Justice Burton, sitting at the Court of Appeal in London.

They ruled that his conviction was "safe".

During Walker's trial at Stafford Crown Court in February last year, jurors heard that Mr Sharpe was returning to his Smethwick home for a joint celebration of his 21st and his mother's 40th birthday.

He was driving back from his base in Germany, where he served with the Queen's Royal Hussars, when he stopped to use a phone box in Oldbury Road during the early hours of September 4, 2004.

Walker, of Edgbaston, Birmingham, shot Mr Sharpe in the arm. The bullet also penetrated his body and he was pronounced dead at hospital.

When sentencing Walker, who had a criminal record dating back to when he was 14, the trial judge Mr Justice Mackay described it as a "callous murder".