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16,896. Stephen Downing, jailed 27 years ago for a murder he said he did not commit, has been freed on bail by the Court of Appeal.
Downing, 44, is being released from Littlehey Prison in Cambridgeshire to await the hearing of an appeal against his conviction and life jail sentence for the killing of Wendy Sewell.
The married typist's badly beaten body was found in a cemetery where he worked in his home town of Bakewell, Derbyshire.
Bail was not opposed by the Crown, which conceded the appeal was ‘highly likely’ to succeed in the light of serious questions raised over the admissibility of Downing's confession statements which formed a main plank of the prosecution case.
Downing, who was 17 at the time but had the mental age of an 11-year-old, has always denied murder and so has been ineligible for parole. (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) Ananova online article
16,897. The quashing of Stephen Downing’s conviction for murder last week was not just an indictment of our police and courts. It sheds awkward light on our parole system, too. Mr Downing’s prison treatment was prejudiced throughout by his refusal to admit guilt.
During 27 years of incarceration – convicted of an offence for which you might normally serve 12 years – he was beaten, scalded and abused. That is still disgracefully commonplace in our prisons. But Mr Downing was also deprived of better jobs, training opportunities and parole consideration on the basis that he was – in Home Office jargon – IDOM, in denial of murder. Parole is no longer automatically refused in such cases, but it is still frequently withheld. (The exceptions are, all too often, only those where journalists are taking an interest.) (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) Guardian Unlimited online article 20th January 2002
16,898. Since his release from prison, Stephen Downing has been able to walk through the streets of Bakewell a free man.
In January last year the Court of Appeal decided that his conviction for the 1973 murder of Wendy Sewell was unsafe.
It was hailed as a triumph for campaigning journalism ... and an end to one of the worst miscarriages of justice in English legal history.
In the small Derbyshire town, Mr Downing was suddenly a celebrity. People stopped him in the street to say hello. There were smiles, handshakes, and words of encouragement. (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) BBC online article 27th February 2003
111,072. Bakewell Derbyshire 12 September 1973 … September 1994 Matlock Derbyshire … ‘Simple: our lad Stephen is in prison for murder … 21 years he’s been in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) In Denial of Murder I, BBC 2004, dad and mum at Matlock Mercury
111,073. ‘He sounded nice. He’s been in prison for twenty years. Well a lot of murderers get out for half that.’ (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid. journalist to family
111,074. ‘I enclose a list of questions. Please reply as fully as possible.’ (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid. journalist’s letter to Stephen
111,075. ‘There’s something going on here: something to do with the Downing case. I’m serious, Ron.’ (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid. journalists in office
111,076. ‘He was only 17. He was terrified, dad.’ (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid. journalist with family in jam-jar
111,077. ‘An innocent lad who’s had the best years of his life stolen from him.’ (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid. journalist with family
111,078. ‘I’ve been through everything in here, Don.’ (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid. Stephen
111,079. ‘The police never mentioned tights.’ (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid. journalist
111,080. ‘[rozzer] Had it in for Stephen ever since he was a kid.’ (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid.
111,081. ‘It wasn’t the first time he’d attacked a woman.’ (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid. rozzer to journalist
111,082. ‘He couldn’t be there that night. (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid. journalist
111,083. ‘I’m pregnant, David.’ (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid. victim
111,084. ‘Too many members of the brotherhood with too much to lose.’ (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) In Denial of Murder II, rozzer to journalist
111,085. ‘Wendy had a baby with Marshall. You knew that, didn’t you?’ (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid.
111,086. ‘There’s no record anywhere you were cautioned.’ (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid.
111,087. ‘27 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.’ (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid. journalist to press
111,088. ‘The police are in total denial. (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid.
107,399. 24 years ago this man was convicted of a brutal murder in a small community. On leave from prison he was welcomed in his home town - the very place you’d expect him to be shunned. Many now doubt the guilt of Stephen Downing. (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) Murder in the Graveyard: Wendy Sewell murder, BBC 2013
107,400. Bakewell cemetery in Derbyshire: On September 12th 1973 a woman was viciously attacked here. Two days later she died. (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid.
107,401. He lived near the graveyard and enjoyed the job [gardener]. (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid.
107,402. Why was the women Downing murdered seen alive after it’s claimed he attacked her? Why was another man seen running in panic from the cemetery? Why do experts argue Downing’s confession is nonsense? And why are there gaps in the forensic evidence? (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid.
107,403. Before his trial Stephen Downing had retracted his confession. (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid.