The Court of Appeal said there is no evidence that murder victim Raymond (Yankee) Rawlins was a police informant.The ruling came after the court met with lawyers behind closed doors for the second day running yesterday to discuss the issue.Lawyer Larry Mussenden first raised the issue on Monday during David Cox’s appeal against his conviction for the gangland slaying of Mr Rawlins.Mr Mussenden explained that the lawyer who originally represented Cox, John Perry QC, only became aware of Mr Rawlins’ alleged informant status after Cox had been convicted of the murder.He wanted the Court of Appeal to consider the matter, since he said it may have given other people a motive to kill father-of-ten Mr Rawlins.The three judges spent time considering whether there was any evidence for Mr Mussenden’s claim in hearings behind closed doors on Tuesday and yesterday. The press and public were excluded from the courtroom while the topic was discussed.The judges ruled yesterday afternoon, however, that Mr Mussenden could not pursue the informant claims during the Cox appeal as there was no supporting evidence for them.The defence lawyer has also listed several other grounds during the course of the appeal as reasons why he says Cox’s conviction is unsafe. Among them are arguments that the judge should not have allowed the jury to hear evidence that the guns used in the Rawlins murder had been used in previous firearm offences in Bermuda.Mr Mussenden argued that police gang expert Alexander Rollin was not qualified to meet the legal test of being declared an expert.Mr Mussenden also complained about the way Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves summed up the case before the jury was sent out to deliberate, saying his remarks were pro-prosecution.However, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Cindy Clarke described the directions the judge gave to the jury in relation to the alibi aspects of the case as “flawless” and said there was “nothing wrong” with comments he made about the evidence. She added: “The trial judge was correct to declare Sgt Rollin an expert to give evidence”.