After confessing to the crime during a police interview, he later pleaded not guilty at trial. The then 17-year-old was convicted by a jury and told by the judge that there was overwhelming evidence against him.

He maintained his innocence whilst behind bars and, because of this, extended his incarceration by seven years to 17 years. Finally released in 2004, he is now fighting to clear his name and is being backed by campaign group Innocent and top lawyer Campbell Malone, who helped free Stefan Kiszko, a famous victim of a miscarriage of justice.

Now, in an exclusive interview with The Bucks Herald, Allder gives a frank insight into his life behind bars, finding love and his hopes for the future.

The 37-year-old, who lives in Blackpool, says he survived prison by keeping his head down and making sure he was never in any serious trouble with officers, but never behaving so well that he received special privileges and was resented by his fellow inmates.

Drugs were rife and Allder himself became an addict, but he blames mandatory drugs testing (MDTs) for pushing inmates on to harder substances.

"There are people who go in who have never been on drugs but who go out junkies," he said.

"You will always have a drugs culture in prison, you are in such a routine and people just want to chill out. When I went in we used to smoke weed and drink hooch. But then they brought out MDTs. Cannabis stays in your system for 24 days, but with heroin it is only three days, so people turn to that because they have got more chance of getting away with it.

"I was on everything from cannabis to heroin to speed to E for the first ten years," he said. "They find you as soon as you walk in. But for lifers there's no chance of being released if you're on them. I realised I had to start thinking about my future and so I sorted myself out, but even when I was an addict I never failed a drugs test – if I knew there was something in my system I would refuse the test."

Allder, who befriended gangster Reggie Kray whilst in prison, said that although he became used to being inside, he missed the smaller things in life that people on the outside may take for granted.

"For years in prison I used to think how I would love to have a dog and now one of the loveliest things I have in my life is my German Shepherd called Oscar. He is a really happy dog and he makes me laugh."

"I never moan when it rains either," he adds. "There were times when I was stuck in the cell and it was belting it down and I just wished I was out there. It's things like that which you appreciate."

He also laughs at press reports complaining about the luxuries inmates are afforded.

"I always see in the papers about prisoners having a Christmas meal. It does look really good on the menu but how it is served is a different matter. For example, the chicken is that condensed kind which is horrible. And on Christmas evening it's a packed lunch because they bang you up early."

Upon his release three years ago, Allder worked as a chef. He says he was shocked at the pace of life on the outside. "In prison you don't do 12 hour shifts – it is knackering."

He might not have coped had it not been for the support of his wife Gaynor, whom he met whilst in prison. "If I hadn't gone through all this then I would not have met her," he says.

"It was at the latter end of my sentence. She was working for an agency in the kitchen. I was moving to a category D and I asked her if I could keep on seeing her. She left her job and it blossomed into something really great."

"It could not have been easy for her taking on somebody who has done a long time in prison and dealing with me when I was down and getting me used to being out in the community. She has helped me such a lot."

And now with her support he is battling to clear his name.
Allder claims the only evidence against him is a confession which he alleges was made under duress and without legal or parental advice. At the time he was a troubled and immature youngster and he says later told prison psychiatrists that he made the confession because he wanted to get attention from his parents.

"I believe the truth will come out," he said. "One day I will stand in the Court of Appeal and I will be made right. Until then I will continue fighting this until my last breath."

The prosecution case argued that Allder and a group of his friends planned to to rob the leather shop. Allder, who had previously been in trouble with the police for burglary, was alleged to have entered the shop with the motivation of robbery when he killed Kathleen Turner.
After his arrest Allder gave a detailed confession, telling detectives he did not mean to kill the shop assistant and that 'everything went black.'

He did not deny the allegation until a court appearance a fortnight after he was charged.

To this day, no witnesses have come forward to collaborate his alibi that he was standing outside Sunley House in Oxford Road having a cigarette. Without such a witness, although there is little evidence linking him to the Kingsbury murder, there is little to prove he was not at the scene of the crime.

Allder was also found to have been wearing two straps on his wrist, used police said, to conceal a knife, but which Allder dismisses as a 'fashion accessory.' For more information on Allder's case, log on to www.innocent.org.uk