Sensational publicity surrounding the arrest of notorious gangster Yip Kai-foon did not prevent him from having a fair trial, appeal judges ruled yesterday.
Yip, who was once Hong Kong's most wanted man, appeared to doze in his wheelchair as the court announced the failure of a challenge to convictions which have left him serving 41 years in jail.
Mr Justice Noel Power said there was no reason for the Court of Appeal to interfere with decisions made by the judge at Yip's trial.
'We cannot accept that the judge lost sight of the fact that he was dealing with an allegedly notorious criminal about whom there had been considerable publicity,' he said.
The court accepted there had been sensational publicity which was potentially prejudicial to Yip's case.
But Mr Justice Michael Stuart-Moore, who allowed the trial to go ahead, had considered this properly.