TWO men who were jailed for life for the murder of a drug addict eight years ago are appealing to clear their names.

Dean Godfrey was shot and stabbed to death in his home in Darlington on the morning of July 1, 1998.

A year later, Christopher Boyle and David Ford, who denied the killing, were convicted by a jury at Teesside Crown Court after a four-week trial.

Boyle, of Elland Court, Red Hall, Darlington, and Ford, of no fixed address, were given life sentences for the murder.

They have now had their cases referred to the Appeal Court by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the independent group charged with investigating suspected miscarriages of justice.

Their appeals will be heard in London on Monday by three judges.

Mr Godfrey, 26, was found dead in his home, in Lucknow Street, in the early hours of the morning.

He had been shot and stabbed several times, and the house had been set on fire in an attempt to hide evidence and the crime.

His body was found by firefighters called to the scene.

He was well-known in the criminal underworld in Darlington, and detectives conducting the murder inquiry delved into the drug culture in the town in a search for clues to the crime.

Mr Godfrey was one of five children in a family who used to live in Starmer Crescent, Darlington, but later moved to Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.

Only a week before he was killed, Mr Godfrey found out he was going to be a father. His girlfriend, Michelle Coleman, gave birth to a girl on February 2, 1999, in Darlington Memorial Hospital.

She shares the same birthday as her grandmother, Brenda Godfrey.

Following the trial, Mr Godfrey's family described the verdict as having a cloud lifted.