Michael Weir (murderer)

Michael Weir
Born1966 (age 57–58)
Hackney, London, England
OccupationSerial burglar
Conviction(s)Murder (×2), multiple counts of burglary
Criminal penaltyLife imprisonment (30-year minimum term)

Michael Weir (born 1966) is a British double murderer and serial burglar who was the first person in English legal history to have been convicted of the same crime twice.[1][2] In 1999, he was jailed for the murder of 78-year-old war veteran Leonard Harris. Weir's conviction was quashed a year later at the Court of Appeal on a technicality, only for him to be re-convicted in 2019 in a 'double jeopardy' case after new evidence was found.[2] Weir was also convicted in 2019 of the murder of 83-year-old Rose Seferian, who was also killed during a burglary five weeks after Harris, which made additional history as the first time a second murder charge was added to a double jeopardy case.[3] Upon Weir's conviction at the Old Bailey in December 2019, Justice Maura McGowan told the jury that they had made "legal history".[2]

  1. ^ While some defendants, such as Russell Causley, had been convicted of the same crime twice, Weir's case was the first in which a person had been re-convicted after having their conviction quashed without a retrial being ordered.
  2. ^ a b c "Prolific thief Michael Weir jailed for 1998 'double jeopardy' murders". BBC News. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  3. ^ "Michael Weir guilty of 1998 'double jeopardy' murders". BBC News. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2022.