Fury Over Campaign To Pardon Witch Gran

THE family of the Scot who was the last woman convicted of witchcraft say they are AGAINST the fight to clear her name.

Helen Duncan's granddaughters have accused campaigners of using her image for their own gain.

They say the psychic - from Callander, Perthshire - wouldn't have cared about being pardoned for her crime.

Hollywood directors are now clamouring to do a film about the story of her life.

But granddaughter Sheila Hickson, 57, said: 'She wouldn't want this. She was just an ordinary lady who didn't like fuss.

'I sometimes feel it's a money-making thing.'There is a campaign - and now supposedly a film. But no-one consulted us. We've been kept in the dark.'

Sheila claims to speak for her sisters, Ann and Sandra, and brother George.

Mrs Duncan admitted 'attempting to bring about the appearances of the spirits of deceased persons' and spent nine months in jail in 1944.

Her crime involved holding a seance in Portsmouth, Hampshire, where she made contact with a sailor who had died on a sinking ship.

The Admiralty had concealed news of the sinking of HMS Barham for security reasons.

The mother-of-six died in 1956 after police raided one of her seances.

Michael Colmer, a medium, is one of several campaigners seeking a posthumous pardon for Mrs Duncan.He said: 'We have gathered sufficient evidence to impress the Criminal Cases Review Commission that there is now a case to answer.

'We have done nothing to smear Helen's name.'