Cricket legend Sir Ian Botham has backed a bid to free a convicted killer sparked by a regional publisher’s investigation.

Sir Ian, who sits in the House of Lords, has issued a statement calling for the release of Jason Moore.

News of the former England all-rounder’s support for the cause was broken by Charles Thomson, of Newsquest’s investigations unit, whose probe into the 2005 death of Robert Darby prompted Moore’s family to launch a fresh campaign to overturn his conviction.

Moore, who was never forensically linked to the crime, is currently serving a life sentence for Mr Darby’s murder after he was arrested and charged with the crime in 2012.

The investigation by Charles, pictured, revealed that Abdul Ahmed, star prosecution witness in Moore’s trial, was “drunk” when he came across the incident, as well as revealing police had shown Mr Ahmed a photograph of Moore before the ID parade in which he identified him as Mr Darby’s killer.

Lending his support to the campaign, Sir Ian said: “I am 100 per cent behind the campaign to free Jason.

“Let’s get the big lad out.”

Charles told HTFP: “Sir Ian Botham is both an international celebrity and a government official, so his backing is very meaningful to the campaigners. We were pleased to be able to break the story that such a huge sports star was calling for Jason’s release from prison.

“No forensic evidence ever linked Jason Moore to Robert Darby’s death and only one eyewitness ever identified him as the killer.

“My investigation found significant problems with that identification evidence and the way in which it was obtained – not least the witness’s gobsmacking claim, when I interviewed him, that he had been drunk at the time and was not sure he had picked out the right person.

“That new evidence will be submitted to the CCRC by Jason and Robert’s families in the coming weeks.

“But CCRC rules mean all previous evidence undermining Jason’s conviction cannot be used again. A CCRC review will take a long time and the odds are stacked against Jason and his supporters.

“Newsquest is working on a podcast series which will explore not only Jason’s case but also the enormous hurdles that alleged victims of miscarriages of justice have to overcome.”