Panorama: Justice Denied TV - Court of Appeal 1992 - BBC online - Satish Sekar - A Killing in Tiger Bay TV - Catching Britain’s Killers: The Crimes that Changed Us TV - The Bay: The Murder of Lynette White TV -
Twenty years ago Panorama investigated a bungled murder inquiry [Lynette White] that resulted in three innocent men being sent to prison for life. Last year the case against eight officers accused of perverting the cause of justice to secure those convictions collapsed. Panorama: Justice Denied: The Greatest Scandal? ***** BBC 2012
The biggest scandal in the history of British justice. ibid.
A tale of murder and a major miscarriage of justice. ibid.
Last year eight police officers involved in that miscarriage have walked free from court. ibid.
The murder of twenty-two-year-old Lynette White, a well-known prostitute. ibid.
A single white-male line of inquiry. ibid.
For nine months the police had been looking for one white male suspect ... A completely new set of suspects was taken in for questioning. ibid.
Following the longest murder trial in British criminal history ... the remaining three defendants – Steven Miller, Yusef Abdelahi and Tony Paris – were all sentenced to life in prison. ibid.
Hostile police interviews. ibid.
The decision of the South Wales police to investigate itself ... 13 South Wales police officers were charged. ibid.
The deliberate destruction of files. ibid.
Incredibly, the documents that had apparently been destroyed mysteriously turned up seven weeks after the trial had ended. ibid.
We are bound to say on hearing the tapes we were horrified ... Short of physical violence it is hard to conceive of a more hostile and intimidating approach by officers to a suspect. Court of Appeal 1992
South Wales Police says it has asked the police watchdog to investigate after the UK’s biggest case involving alleged police corruption collapsed.
Eight former officers were cleared of perverting the course of justice at Swansea Crown Court after the wrongful conviction of three men for murder.
The judge ruled the officers and two other defendants, who were also found not guilty, could not get a fair trial.
The case follows the murder of Cardiff prostitute Lynette White in 1988.
Files relating to complaints by an original defendant were said to be missing, and the director of public prosecutions said he was 'extremely concerned'.
The cost of the investigations and trials is thought to run into tens of millions. BBC News online article 1st December 2011
The English criminal justice system regularly churns out serious miscarriages. If you want to know why and how this happens, you could turn to this shocking and detailed account of the case of the Cardiff Three.
The three, Yusef Abdelahi, Tony Paris and Steven Miller, were convicted of the brutal murder of a prostitute in Cardiff’s Butetown after one of the longest-ever trials. The real killer is still at large. Policemen under pressure to resolve a horrific crime refused to accept the repeated and emphatic denials of a man who was psychologically vulnerable. They intimidated and threatened him until he confessed. Other promising lines of inquiry were abandoned once the police were convinced they had got their men.
Though the crime was committed in Cardiff, the trial was held in Swansea, where black defendants were unlikely to find jurors whose life experience matched their own. Satish Sekar details how forensic evidence was misinterpreted, and draws pertinent general conclusions about the defects of the adversarial system of trial. Satish campaigned for and got a full investigation of the way the case had been handled. He shows that despite (or perhaps because) of the blizzard of legislation in this field over the last 20 years, the system is on course for more miscarriages in the future. This is a very important book for anyone concerned with the future of civil liberties in Britain. Satish Sekar, The Fitted In Project
They framed us. Where’s the justice for us? We’re still waiting for justice. A Killing in Tiger Bay I, boyfriend Stephen Miller, BBC 2021
20-year-old Lynette White was found brutally murdered in a flat in James Street in Butetown. The alarm was raised when a girlfriend of hers went to the local police station, saying Lynette had not been seen in her home in Grangetown since last Tuesday … She died after a frenzied attack with a sharp instrument believed to be a six-inch blade. ibid. news
Stephen Miller’s blood does not match the blood type found at the flat. No evidence is found linking him to the murder. ibid. captions
In the ’80s it was like the wild west to be quite frank. South Wales Police were a law unto themselves … The pressure on the police was almost intolerable. ibid. Yusuf’s solicitor
I knew they were stitching me up. I knew it straight away. I just knew it. A Killing in Tiger Bay II, victim
The Cardiff 5 have now been in custody for 444 days. ibid. caption
Basically, we was treated like animals, like slaves. ibid. victim
The prosecution had painted it very much as the five acting together. But it was very strange because you had the three being found guilty and the two being found not guilty. ibid. defence dude
The Lynette White murder trial was the longest in British legal history. ibid. caption
Stephen Miller, Yusef Abdullahi and Tony Paris are given life sentences. ibid.
Detective Chief Inspector John Williams retires days before the end of the trial. ibid.
Straight after sentencing, the families start a campaign. ‘Free the Cardiff 3’ is headed by Malik Abdullahi and Lloyd Parris. A Killing in Tiger Bay III, caption
The campaign consumed me and Malik’s life totally. ibid. Lloyd
A year after the campaign is launched, Reverend Al Sharpton joins a march from Butetown to Cardiff city centre. ibid. caption
The three Appeal Court judges consider the content of all nineteen tapes. ibid.
Short of physical violence it’s hard to conceive of a more hostile and intimidating approach by officers. ibid.
Three days later Gafoor is sentenced – 15 years after Lynette White was murdered. South Wales Police apologise to the Cardiff 5. ibid. caption
Angela Psaila, Leanne Vilday and Mark Grommek were all jailed for 18 months. During sentencing the Judge stated they were ‘seriously hounded, bullied, threatened, abused and manipulated by police’ and as a result felt compelled to agree to the false accounts suggested. ibid.
July 2011: Three years after the perjury trial the biggest police corruption trial in British history begins. 8 South Wales Police officers are charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. After four months the case against the police officers collapses when documents go missing. As a result there was never an opportunity to test the evidence in court. None of the officers were convicted of any offences. All eight officers walk free. ibid.
Two weeks later they find the documents. Am I mad? ibid. Michael Mansfield QC
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984: Pace. Catching Britain’s Killers: The Crimes that Changed Us III ***** BBC news
The police culture of a previous era persisted. ibid. BBC news
Four years after Pace, a case in Cardiff would publicly expose the dangers of a police service that still chased confessions. On Valentine’s Day 1988 20-year-old Lynette White was found stabbed to death in her flat in Butetown near the Cardiff docks. 10 months later her ex-partner Stephen Miller was arrested on suspicion of murder and questioned at Cardiff police station. After five days of interrogation he confessed to Lynette White’s murder … At his trial Miller was found guilty of murder along with two other men both implicated by his taped confession … ‘They’ve become known as the Cardiff 3: serving a prison sentence for life for a murder they say they didn’t commit.’ ibid. television news