Barristers yesterday closed their submissions in an appeal against the convictions of two men jailed for murder.

Judges presiding at the Court of Appeal reserved judgment on Kenneth Burgess and Dennis Robinson to a later date.

The pair was jailed for life in February of last year for the murder of Jahmal and Jahmil Cooper on March 13, 2005.

Burgess was said to have beaten the 20-year-old twins and bludgeoned them with a metal baseball bat in an act of revenge for them allegedly robbing his father.

The ferocity of the beating at Burgess' apartment in Crown Hill Lane, Devonshire, ended the Cooper twins' lives within minutes. The prosecution claimed Robinson guarded the door to prevent escape and then helped Burgess to dispose of the bodies 80 feet down Abbot's Cliff in Hamilton Parish. Their skeletal remains were discovered one month later.

Barristers for Burgess and Robinson this week argued their convictions should be quashed as the evidence of two key witnesses in the trial, Devario Whitter and Gladwin Cann, was contradictory and therefore unreliable.

Courtenay Griffiths QC, for Burgess, applied for 'fresh evidence' in the form of new affidavits from the pair to be submitted, alleging Whitter had fabricated evidence to say he was present during the assaults as part of a deal with Police.

But Senior Crown counsel Paula Tyndale said there was "abundant evidence he (Whitter) was present" at the murder scene. The three Appeals Court judges refused the application on Monday.

Mr. Griffiths also claimed the trial judge had suppressed submissions that Police had planted a bloodstained shirt at Burgess's apartment, telling the jury the claim of Police "malpractice" was unsubstantiated. Mr. Griffiths questioned why officers had sealed the shirt in an evidence bag at the Police station rather than at the apartment above the crime scene.

Barrister John Perry QC, appealed Robinson's conviction, arguing that as Gladwin Cann was standing outside the Crown Hill Lane apartment he would not have seen whether Robinson had assisted Burgess in the attacks.

He said a smear of blood belonging to one of the victims found in Robinson's van "could have come from any of the individuals in the room". Mr. Perry added that CCTV evidence which allegedly showed Robinson's van travelling through Flatts on the way to dump the bodies did not reveal the driver or registration number.

Court of Appeal President Edward Zacca told Ms Tyndale: "Before you can use this evidence you have to be sure it was his van. I don't see how anybody could begin to be sure."

But she replied: "Even if the jury could not identify the van, they could draw from the presence of DNA in the van.

"Even if the court is unhappy to the presence of those items to the jury, then the court can be sure that the jury would have proper foundation notwithstanding the CCTV footage, because the DNA evidence in the van was powerful evidence.

"The other evidence is more powerful. In view of all the circumstances it could not have led to a miscarriage of justice."

Ms Tyndale added: "The question of the credibility of the witnesses was highly challenged in the case and it was a matter for the jury to find."

Summing up Robinson's appeal, barrister Charles Richardson said the defendant had not intended to go to Crown Hill but had been asked to give someone a lift there. He added: "There's no evidence that Burgess ever gave any instructions to Robinson."

Mr. Richardson said Cann had also told the court that Robinson had diffused an altercation between him and Burgess, saying Robinson had "come between us and then pushed me out of the door".

"That is consistent with someone trying to defuse a potentially explosive situation," said Mr. Richardson. "Robinson was present at the assault, nothing more. His mere presence is not enough."

Mr. Richardson added that the Crown was wrong to suggest the door had to be held shut by someone to prevent it from swinging open, as the hinges proved otherwise. He also said that if the twins' bodies had been transported in Robinson's van then there would have been more blood present as "the evidence is the two victims were beaten viciously and were bleeding".

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