A man who served 36 years in prison for the savage murder of a betting shop manager passed a new type of lie detector test while being questioned over his guilt.
Ray Gilbert, then 22, was convicted of stabbing John Suffield Junior 19 times at the Coral Racing Shop, on Lodge Lane, Toxteth, in what was believed to have been a botched robbery in 1981.
Mr Gilbert maintained his innocence even though his refusal to confess to a Parole Board cost him an extra 20 years in prison, before his eventual release in 2016.
Despite being freed, the now 63-year-old remains determined to clear his name and lose the stigma of being a convicted killer.
His biggest hurdle is a confession he made to detectives during his police interviews in 1981 - which he claims was false and given under duress - and the fact he pleaded guilty part-way through a trial, both of which proved fatal for his later appeal efforts.
Mr Gilbert and his co-accused, John Kamara, were both sentenced to life despite no forensic evidence linking either of them to the scene - and in fact Mr Kamara was acquitted in 2000 by judges at the Court of Appeal after 19 years in prison.
In recent weeks Mr Gilbert enlisted the help of a company providing a relatively new type of lie detector test called eye detect - which used a computer programme to monitor tiny movements in the eyes to test if someone is being truthful.
Mr Gilbert passed all questions on the test, and operator Terry Mullins, director of the company Integrity Assured, told the ECHO: "If you are asking me did Ray walk into the betting shop and stab the victim 19 times? No, he did not."
Now nearing pension age, Mr Gilbert hopes the test results as well as evidence around his mental state at the time of the confession will be enough for the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) to re-open the case and refer it back to the Court of Appeal.
Describing how an acquittal would affect him, he said: "It would mean I could marry my partner, it would be the best feeling in the world.
"I would be able to get my life back."
Mr Gilbert said the 36 years he served inside were difficult, and life had changed beyond recognition when he was finally granted parole.
He said: "It was hard. In the end when you are in prison and you have not done the crime it's difficult to accept. I was sending probably 50 letters to people every weekend about my case.
"I could have been released in 1996 if I had confessed but I have never ever given up on my case.
Speaking about his 2016 release on life-licence, he said: "Most things had changed. Traffic had changed, L8 had changed, there were no nightclubs there any more, and the community was more fractious.
"Shopping was different, I had to get used to banking. Getting used to lots of people around you which I didn't like as I have issues with trust.
"Now if I am out and there are too many people around I just go home."
Mr Gilbert said he left the area as "some people felt uncomfortable around me and and felt uncomfortable around them."
Polygraph tests are not admissible as evidence in criminal courts in the UK due to questions about their accuracy - but they are used by parole officers to monitor sex offenders on their release from prison and in some civil and family court cases.
Eye detect, as a relatively new technology, has yet to be tested in a court case but Mr Gilbert hopes it will add to his chances of his conviction being re-examined.
Mr Mullins told the ECHO the key difference with Eye Detect compared with a polygraph is that the results do not need to be interpreted by a human operator, meaning there is no chance for conscious or sub-conscious bias to effect the outcome.
Instead a computer programme determines whether the answer to a question is honest or dishonest.
In Mr Gilbert's case, the 30 questions he answered were all honest - including "I did not stab the manager of Coral's on the 13th March 1981" and "I am not guilty of stabbing the manager of Coral's on the 13th March 1981."
Mr Gilbert says he also hopes samples from the crime scene can be re-examined for DNA, which was not possible with the technology available in 1981.
Solicitor Maslen Merchant, of law firm Hadgkiss Hughes & Beale, previously told the ECHO he is representing Mr Gilbert and working on the case with a view to appeal.
Mr Merchant said he had commissioned a psychiatric report which said Mr Gilbert shows signs of a personality disorder, that he believes could explain a "false confession".
The team will also argue that Mr Gilbert has a speech impediment which is made worse in stressful situations, and he is described as ‘vulnerable’.
in 2007, John Suffield Snr, the victim’s dad, also called for the release of Mr Gilbert from prison.
He told the BBC’s Inside Out programme: "I think it's time Raymond Gilbert was released from prison. I think he's done enough time.
"Over half of your life is a long time to spend in prison and somebody should be taking steps to resolve the future of Raymond Gilbert.
"If he knocked at my front door now I'd welcome him into my home.
"He's served the required term of punishment as a deterrent and I am at a loss to know what he's been doing in prison for the last 12 years, long past his expected time of release...
"Raymond Gilbert pleaded guilty and one would say that's the strongest evidence, but the doubts have been placed in my mind.
"Psychiatrists doubt that this was a reasonable confession. They say it bears all the hallmarks of a false confession.
"There's other evidence which makes me doubt that Raymond Gilbert was involved in the murder of my son.
"Nobody wants an innocent man to be kept in prison for a crime that he might not have committed or indeed did not commit."
Merseyside Police previously told the ECHO in a statement: "Merseyside Police still holds case files in relation to the murder of John Suffield and subsequent conviction of Raymond Gilbert.
"The Criminal Case Review Commission (CCRC) has previously reviewed the case and grounds for appeal were dismissed and the conviction deemed safe.
"If the CCRC were to seek a further review of the papers, Merseyside Police would co operate with them."
