CAMPAIGNERS battling to clear the name of blind Yvonne Sleightholme have lost their bid to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

David Hamilton and Margaret Leonard applied to Strasbourg last year, arguing that Sleightholme jailed in 1991 for the murder of Ryedale farmers' wife Jayne Smith was not given a fair trial.

They also claimed that the UK judicial system had subsequently failed to provide her with appropriate remedies in the British courts.

But the court has rejected the application on the grounds that it "appears to be out of time", because domestic remedies were exhausted at the Court of Appeal in 1993.

The decision has disappointed the campaigners, who believe the European Court has failed to take proper account of the role of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) in the British legal system.

Sleightholme, who is serving a life sentence for shooting dead Mrs Smith in a farmyard at Salton, near Malton, in 1988 and who has been blind since shortly after her arrest, was refused permission by the commission in 2000 to refer her case back to the Court of Appeal, despite claims by her campaigners to have unearthed fresh evidence in her defence.

Last January the High Court threw out an application for leave to apply for a judicial review of the commission's decision.

Mr Hamilton and Miss Leonard have said in their reply to the European Court that they believe domestic remedies are not exhausted until the CCRC has considered applications for review.

"When the Court of Appeal proved an inadequate remedy in certain high-profile cases (for example, the Birmingham Six), the CCRC was established in part in order to comply with the obligations of the UK under Article 13 of the Convention," they said.

"The CCRC is an integral part of the review procedure, giving direct access to the Court of Appeal, and is therefore effectively a domestic remedy.

"The application to the European Court was made within six months of the judicial review, which we

hold to be the point at which domestic remedies were exhausted."

The campaigners told the Evening Press that they would continue battling on despite the decision, against which they have no right of appeal.

They said they would be assisted by free legal advice provided courtesy of the Pro Bono Unit, an organisation which provides help in deserving cases where legal aid is not available.

Updated: 09:03 Wednesday, May 01, 2002