FORMER Ipswich policeman Michael Cheong, of Peterhouse Crescent Woodbridge was today given leave to appeal against his manslaughter conviction.However judges at the Royal Courts of Justice in London dismissed the appeal at the same hearing on the basis that they did not feel the trial, which was heard at the Old Bailey last August, would have been unfair.

FORMER Ipswich policeman Michael Cheong, of Peterhouse Crescent Woodbridge was today given leave to appeal against his manslaughter conviction.

However judges at the Royal Courts of Justice in London dismissed the appeal at the same hearing on the basis that they did not feel the trial, which was heard at the Old Bailey last August, would have been unfair.

At the trial the 43-year-old was convicted of the manslaughter of Brian Spencer, 23 on August 4 1982 in Guyana.

During his trial the jury heard Cheong's then wife Sandra and her younger sister Janice Williams had been attacked by Spenser.

Cheong, along with some family members, had gone out to capture him.

Cheong's legal team have always contended that to have brought the prosecution to England, 23 years after Spenser was killed was unfair to their client.

The main tenet of their argument was that there were only two documents left from the original investigation by police in Guyana and that the matter had been dealt with by the authorities in South America.

At the time Cheong was reprimanded for the unlawful possession of his step-father Dennis' shotgun.