Prisoner goes on the run to protest his guilt

NICK MOORE is a rarity. Unlike most prisoners who protest their innocence, he insists he is guilty of a crime for which he was not convicted.

His aim, he says, is to help a friend, Michael Boler, who is serving 10 years for armed robbery at Long Lartin prison in Hereford and Worcester.

Boler was wrongly convicted, according to Moore. How does he know? Because he carried out the crime.

Last Friday, Moore went on leave from Ashwell Open Prison, Leicester, where he is serving a six-year sentence for two robberies. Over the weekend, he passed a lie- detector test for Central Television as he admitted committing the offence for which Boler was found guilty.

However, when his leave ended, he failed to return to jail. He says he will do so only after his friend has been released, 'or I have been required to give evidence at his appeal hearing'.

Speaking to Central Television, he said: 'I have not gone on the run for my own benefit. I have done it so that Michael Boler can be freed.'

Moore, 26, from Spondon, Derby, asked the prison authorities to refuse him parole. 'I am not a fool,' he said. 'I want my freedom, like any other convicted prisoner. But before I ask for parole from this system, I ask it for the release of Michael Boler.'

Boler, 40, of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, was jailed at Derby Crown Court in 1989 after a jury found him guilty of carrying out an armed raid on a building society in the city. He is appealing against the conviction. Moore was later convicted of two similar offences in Derby in 1989 and 1990.

Police are still looking for him.