Freeman, Clive

Clive Freeman was convicted of the murder of Alexander Hardie, and arson, in 1989 and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 15 years for murder and five years for arson, to run concurrently. 

The CCRC decided that there was a considerable body of expert pathology opinion, gathered since Mr Freeman’s trial and appeal, the cumulative effect of which undermined the prosecution pathology evidence to the extent it could be argued that it was not safe for the jury to place any weight upon it.  

The CCRC determined that there was a real possibility the Court of Appeal would accept this body of expert opinion as fresh evidence and, notwithstanding a strong circumstantial case presented at trial, quash the convictions. 

In April 1988 the body of Alexander Hardie was found in a flat in Chiltern Grove in London in which Mr Freeman had been staying.  

Mr Hardie was found after neighbours raised the alarm that the flat was on fire. On the same day, Mr Freeman flew to America and later travelled to Australia where he was arrested in June 1988. 

A pathology expert called by the prosecution at trial expressed the opinion that Mr Hardie was killed, having been suffocated, and was dead before the flat was set on fire. 

The CCRC also referred Mr Freeman’s conviction for arson to the Court of Appeal on the basis that the prosecution case at trial was such that Mr Freeman murdered Mr Hardie in pursuance of an insurance fraud and then set the flat on fire, and so if the Court of Appeal found the murder conviction unsafe, it was likely to reach the same conclusion as regards the arson conviction.  

Mr Freeman applied to the CCRC six times. The first application was submitted in September 2000, and the latest in August 2023. The first five reviews did not lead to a referral.  

The CCRC referred the convictions in August 2025.