A man who had his conviction for murder overturned after spending more than 27 years in prison was today found guilty of wearing police clothing in public.

Stephen Downing, jailed for the Bakewell Tart killing of 1973 and released in 2001, was charged after trying to buy four cans of shandy in Buxton in February dressed in an ex-police issue jacket, dark trousers and black boots, Buxton Magistrates’ Court in Derbyshire was told.

The fleece jacket, bought online, featured the distinctive checked, reflective strip and a badge saying Derbyshire Constabulary ARV (Armed Response Vehicle).

When refused service at Aldi on February 16, Downing called police himself, on a non-emergency number, to clear up any confusion. Officers arrived and spoke to Downing, and in May he was asked to attend a police station for questioning.

He was subsequently charged with wearing an article of police uniform in circumstances where it gave him an appearance so nearly resembling that of a member of a police force as to be calculated to deceive.

Downing had denied the charge in court. Wearing a dark grey suit, white shirt and striped tie, he said of the jacket: “It’s hard-wearing, it’s recyclable, it’s waterproof to a certain degree." However, the court heard that Downing, of Bakewell, Derbyshire, had been mistaken as a police officer while wearing the jacket before.

He was fined £437 and ordered to pay £625 costs. The court also ordered that the jacket be destroyed.

The 52-year-old made headlines internationally after serving almost three decades in prison before being released on bail in 2001. In 2002, his conviction for bludgeoning typist Wendy Sewell to death with a pickaxe handle - the Bakewell Tart killing - was quashed after it emerged that a statement he made confessing to the murder had taken place without him being properly cautioned.

An independent inquiry concluded at the start of 2007 that police were correct to keep Downing as the sole suspect in the case.

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