Latest twist in Lynette White corruption trial “beggars belief”
Important documents, whose disappearance led to the collapse of Britain’s biggest ever corruption trial, have been found in boxes held by South Wales Police.
Yesterday, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, ordered a full inquiry into the collapse of a trial of eight police officers accused of perverting the course of justice during the 1988 hunt for the murderer of Lynette White in Cardiff.
The trial collapsed in December and the officers were acquitted after the judge ruled they could no longer get a fair trial as certain documents were thought to have been shredded.
Then later yesterday IPCC commissioner Sarah Green released a statement to say they had not been destroyed after all.
“The Independent Police Complaints Commission has now verified that the documents that the Lynette White trial at Swansea Crown Court on 1 December 2011 was told may have been destroyed have been discovered and were not shredded as first thought,” she stated.
“The court was told that some enquiries had been made about documents relating to complaints made to the IPCC itself and that it seemed that these documents may have been shredded on the orders of South Wales Police Senior Investigating Officer Chris Coutts.
“The documents were found in the original boxes that the IPCC had sent through to SWP as part of the trial disclosure process in 2009. These boxes were still in the possession of SWP and have subsequently been verified.
“The IPCC investigation has not yet concluded and will also need to establish what happened to these two files of documents. The IPCC will also continue to liaise with the review being carried out by the Director of Public Prosecutions. We have of course informed the Director of Public Prosecutions about the discovery of these documents.
“The IPCC will of course publish its findings in due course.”
A friend of one of the men originally accused of Lynette White’s murder during the botched investigation told The Guardian: “The whole thing gets more bizarre by the minute. Did this whole trial collapse because they lost a box or two of documents? It beggars belief. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so depressing.”
And a close friend of another of the men, Tony Paris, who was wrongfully jailed for the murder and had given evidence to the police corruption trial before its collapse, said: “This is just unbelievable. How much pressure can they put these men under? It all defies belief.”
The question for the authorities now is whether, following the discovery of the “shredded” documents, the police officers can be re-tried.
Prosecutors in police corruption trial to face major review
A major review has been ordered into the way the prosecution in a police corruption trial was handled.
Eight officers were cleared of perverting the course of justice after a judge at Swansea Crown Court ruled they could not get a fair trial.
It had been alleged that the former South Wales Police officers had manufactured the case against five men – three of whom were jailed for life before being released on appeal.
The retired officers all pleaded not guilty to the charge and were cleared after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) offered no evidence against the defendants.
It emerged that files relating to complaints by a murder trial defendant had been destroyed – a revelation which called the trial’s disclosure process into question.
The trial – relating to the 1988 hunt for the murderer of Lynette White in Cardiff- had already been sitting for five months when it collapsed in December and had cost an estimated £30m.
Today, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, ordered a full inquiry into the trial.
“Shortly after the collapse of this trial I initiated a full and detailed review of the circumstances in which the decision to offer no further evidence was made,” said Mr Starmer. “I asked leading counsel for the prosecution to prepare a comprehensive analysis of the reasons for the decision.
“I have now considered that analysis and as part of the review have decided to ask Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, an independent statutory body, to consider the way in which the prosecution team conducted the disclosure exercise in this case.”
Mr Starmer said the HMCPSI’s “independent review” would consider:
*Whether the prosecution team (CPS and counsel) approached, prepared and managed disclosure in this case effectively, bearing in mind the history, size and complexity of the investigation and prosecution;
*Whether the prosecution team complied with their disclosure duties properly, including all relevant guidance and policy relating to disclosure, in light of the extensive material generated in this case;
*And whether the existing legal guidance is appropriate for cases of similar size and complexity.
HM Chief Inspector, Michael Fuller, said: “It is important that the public can have confidence in the way the CPS conducts its cases and the Inspectorate will examine the issues with the utmost thoroughness. Inevitably this will take time but will be completed as soon as is practicable and a report prepared for the DPP.
“South Wales Police has decided to refer their part in this matter to the Independent Police Complaints Commission and we will work in tandem with the IPCC inquiry into what happened. Both organizations are committed to sharing all relevant information with each other and arrangements are being made to ensure there is meaningful liaison between the two inquiries.”
Welsh serial killer to die in jail, European court rules
Welsh serial killer Peter Moore will be kept in jail for the rest of his life, judges at the European Court of Human Rights have ruled.
Moore and two other convicted killers – Jeremy Bamber and Douglas Vinter – had asked the court to rule on whole life sentences.
The murderers said condemning them to die in prison amounts to “inhuman or degrading treatment”. They argued all sentences should be regularly reviewed.
When convicted the applicants were given whole life orders, meaning they cannot be released other than at the discretion of the Secretary of State on compassionate grounds, for example, if they are terminally ill.
Under the Criminal Justice Act 2003, all prisoners whose tariffs were set by the Secretary of State are able to apply to the High Court for review of that tariff.
Cinema owner Peter Moore, from Bagillt in North Wales, was convicted of murdering four men for his sexual gratification during a bloody three-month crime spree in 1995.
During his trial he was described by prosecutor Lord Carlile as the most dangerous man ever to set foot in Wales. He was jailed in 1996.
The High Court found that his case involved the murder of two or more people, sexual or sadistic conduct and a substantial degree of premeditation and that there were no mitigating circumstances.
The European court has now held that in the case of each of the three men the High Court had decided that an all-life tariff was “required, relatively recently and following a fair and detailed consideration”.
All three applicants had committed particularly brutal and callous murders, said the court, and it did not consider that these sentences were grossly disproportionate or amounted to inhuman or degrading treatment.
There had, therefore, been no violation of Article 3 in the case of any of the applicants.
Bamber, who was jailed for shooting five members of his family dead in Essex in 1986, has always protested his innocence, claiming his schizophrenic sister shot the victims before turning the gun on herself at their farmhouse at Tolleshunt D’Arcy.
Douglas Vinter, of Normanby, Teesside, killed both his wife and a work colleague.
“The Real Merthyr”
The town of Merthyr Tydfil has become a byword for poverty and deprivation.
The media and politicians have used the town to illustrate many negative aspects of society: crime, unemployment and sickness.
But do the facts support the reputation?
Earlier this year Wales This Week and ITV Wales reporter Hannah Thomas, who comes from the town, went in search of ’the real Merthyr Tydfil’.
The programme is still available on-line here.
The market stalls: a look at the Welsh housing market
When the credit crunch hit in 2008 the housing market was the first part of the economy to suffer.
Now, with talk of a second recession looming, Wales This Week looks ahead to ask what’s going to happen to Welsh house prices in 2012.
And the programme investigates how first time buyers – the engine of the property market – are finding new ways to get on the housing ladder.
See the programme here.
** “Great programme…thanks for a balanced and well informed look at the state of the sector.” Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru
Murder, mistakes and inquiries: how the Lynette White case still haunts us
It was meant to be the case in which South Wales Police drew a line under some of the difficult times from the past.
Instead, the force and the Crown Prosecution Service in Wales are waking up to difficult headlines about the collapse of the largest alleged police corruption trial ever seen in the UK.
The back story to the Lynette White corruption trial is long and complicated. The legal issues impenetrable to many.
The saga stretches back 23 years to the bloody murder of a 20-year-old woman and takes in two trials and an appeal, featuring the men who did not kill Lynette, and a trial of the man who did.
The details of this have been explored at length elsewhere.
What was at question in the corruption trial was what went wrong in the initial police inquiry which saw five innocent men in the stand and three – the so-called Cardiff Three – wrongfully convicted of murder.
I spoke to one of those men, Tony Paris, yesterday. He has spent years putting his life in order.
Many of the dark times from the past were dragged up during the trial when he was called to give evidence. But the main thing for him is that the real killer of Lynette White – Jeffrey Gafoor – is behind bars.
The police saw to it that Gafoor was finally locked up in 2003. With his conviction, the initial case of the Cardiff Three became what legal watchers have called the first “proven miscarriage of justice” in British history.
That meant the force had to investigate what had gone wrong back in 1988 when officers first set out to find the killer.
The inquiry led to eight former police officers and two civilians facing trial for perverting the court of justice. Charges of which they have now been found not guilty.
However, the way in which the case collapsed leaves plenty of questions for the rest of us.
Even during these straitened times, we don’t balance the value of justice against its cost. But tens of millions of pounds have been spent on the inquiries in this case – and now more public funds are being set aside to find out how we got here.
The issue at the heart of the collapse was what lawyers call ‘disclosure’. In British legal trials both the prosecution and defence have to tell each other what evidence they have.
Crucially, this includes the evidence they will use in court and any which they won’t.
In this case, evidence – for whatever reason, and the case stretched back many years, remember – had been destroyed.
How and why this happened will now be the subject of a major review. In cases like this it seems there can be endless mistakes and inquiries involving the same organisations. A cat chasing its own tail.
A story which started in the most violent of circumstances in a small flat in Butetown, Cardiff, continues to haunt Wales more than two decades on.
‘Living With Dementia’ on You Tube
‘Living With Dementia’, a half-hour documentary following two couples who are dealing with dementia, is now available on You Tube. It is in two parts.
We filmed with the two couples for almost a year. There is more on their stories here.
The programme is now being used to help teach clinical psychology trainees at the Dementia Service Development Centre Wales.
Snowdonia At 60
Last month marked the 60th anniversary of the creation of Snowdonia National Park.
National Parks were created in the years when Britain was rebuilding after the Second World War.
The earliest were designated in 1951 and Snowdonia was among them.
This firstWelshNational Parkwas about conserving the past.
But, 60 years on, does it still have a role to play?
That’s the question Wales This Week asked on the night of the anniversary, October 18.
We filmed across the park with attractions such as the Welsh Highland Railway and the Pen-y-Gwryd pub where the Mount Everest team based themselves for their training ahead of their 1953 ascent.
We also visited Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue, Graig Wen on the Mawddach estuary and the couple behind the Baavet duvet.
The programme is now on You Tube.
Who are the rugby players in this picture?
Can you name the players and location?
The 77th HAA (Heavy Anti Aircraft) Regiment was created to provide air protection for Cardiff, Newport and Barry, and surrounding districts.
Many of its members were local sportsmen who joined up together, such as Les Spence, who been Cardiff Rugby Club captain during the 1936-37 season, and his team-mate Wilf Wooller.
Other sports stars in the 77th included Ernie Curtis who had been the youngest member of Cardiff City’s 1927 FA Cup winning side.
This photograph shows Les Spence (sitting, second from left) as he poses with other members of a rugby squad which is presumably related to his membership of the 77th. Wooller is sitting between the two uniformed officers.
Standing third from the left is Ken Street who would be killed in a train crash in Java in February 1942.
But where was the photo taken and who are the other players?
* Throughout the horrors of prison camps in Java and Japan, Les Spence kept a secret diary. From his camp near the city ofNagasaki, he was able to record one of the most momentous moments in history: the dropping of the plutonium bomb on Nagasaki.
“We had uneventful train journey to Nagasaki and then we saw the result of the atomic bomb. It was simply astounding, nothing left standing for miles, everything flat and burnt out.”
Les – who was later to become president of the WRU – risked his life to write the diaries. They will be published next year.
Young offenders report hears bleak view of the future
A new report into young people’s experience of custody paints a bleak picture of their hopes for going straight on their release.
The report, published jointly by Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons, and the Youth Justice Board, sets out how young people aged 15 to 18 describe their own experience of imprisonment in 2010-11.
When asked if they had done something during their time in custody that would make them less likely to offend in future, only half of them answered positively.
This was despite high levels of them saying they wanted to stop offending: 92 per cent of young men and 93 per cent of young women.
And although getting a job was cited by young men (and by 52 per cent of young women) as most likely to stop them offending, fewer than half of young people said they knew who to contact for help with finding employment.
The report, ‘Children and Young People in Custody 2010-11: an analysis of the experiences of 15 to 18-year-olds in prison’, found that the number of children and young people held in young offender institutions continued to fall during 2010-11 from 1,977 to 1,822.
However, more than half of the young men, 53 per cent, said it was their first time in custody, up from 39 per cent in 2009-10.
The report also found that the proportion of black and minority ethnic young men in custody continued to rise; that over a quarter of young men and over half of young women said they had spent some time in local authority care; and that almost a quarter of young women and 13 per cent of young men had children of their own.
