21/10/04 - Man charged with three-year-old murder
Evening Echo

A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a man found dead on allotments more than three years ago. Damon Alvin, 31, of Rushbottom Lane, Benfleet, appeared in Harlow Magistrates' Court charged with murdering Dean Boshell.

Mr Boshell was found with a single shotgun wound to the back of the head in allotments in Manchester Drive, Leigh on February 28 2001. Kitchen worker Boshell, who had spent most of his life in Leeds, had been released from prison just five months before his death after serving a short sentence for a string of burglaries.

Alvin was also charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Three other people - Ricky Percival, 25, of Cricketfield Grove, Leigh, plus Kevin Walsh, 32, of Shannon Close, Leigh, and Katy Griffiths, 23, of The Fairway, Leigh also appeared in court charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Alvin and Percival were both remanded in custody to appear at Chelmsford Crown Court on October 29. Walsh and Griffiths were released on conditional bail to appear on the same date.