The Cardiff Five: Innocent Beyond Any Doubt

Satish Sekar

Waterside Press, Hook, Hampshire, 2012, 978-1-904380-76-4 [£16.50]

Firstly, this book was published in 2012 and this review is in early 2016 so there has been a three year gap. However, given the speed at which most miscarriage of justice cases take to be independently reviewed this is no more than the blink of an eye, which in itself should be unacceptable.

This book relates largely to the murder of Lynette White in Cardiff in 1988 following on from which five men stood trial, two were acquitted and three were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Eventually, the real and sole killer was convicted and DNA analysis played a significant role.

The book is written by a man with passion for this case. In my experience, miscarriage of justice cases do not get overturned without at least one person, and preferably a team, constantly driving into the criminal legal system and often against the odds over many years in order to get a proper review undertaken – clearly Mr Sekar was one such person.

As with many miscarriage of justice cases, there were multiple twists and turns and some truly bizarre events had to be accepted by the criminal legal system in order for the scientific results to be explained, the police investigation to continue along its track and ultimately convictions to be achieved. In the case of the murder of Lynette White one scientific issue (there were, as is often the case, several) was with blood grouping: either the Cardiff Five plus another person never previously mentioned by the Police had to be involved in order to account for the blood group results, or one person (not including any of the Cardiff Five) acted alone and it was that person’s blood that was present at the scene. The system chose to accept six offenders contributing to one blood result rather than consider the far more likely scenario of one person and the police investigation being incorrect.

Time of death issues and offender profiling also occurred in this case, the details of which are morbidly fascinating and disturbing because they will be familiar to anyone involved in crime investigation. Having said that, the care with which the scene was re-examined and samples collected from underneath paint years after the crime occurred are impressive and, much as I am loathe to say it, would have a great place in an episode of CSI – and actually be an accurate portrayal of forensic science for a change.

Mr Sekar’s passion for the case is apparent throughout this book. The stories of the Cardiff Five and the other cases to which he refers are incredibly important. At times though it seemed the passion caused some of the detail to be a bit jumbled for a reader unfamiliar with the case to follow and a certain amount of repetition crept in.

However, there can be no doubt that there is a need for books to be written and education to be provided about how these cases occur in the hope that their occurrence diminishes in the future. Miscarriages of justice occur wherever people are involved in making decisions about how they think crimes occurred; I have been involved in re-investigation of three of New Zealand’s most high-profile such cases and there are more on the horizon, so the issues raised by Mr Sekar are international and current.

It is critical there be transparency and open reporting of such cases and this book adds to the growing pile of publications that have been written and need to be written so that we do not become complacent and accept that miscarriages of justice are simply a cost of the investigation of crime. As stated by Michael Mansfield QC in the Foreword, “Questions asked behind closed doors by internal reviews are self-serving and left to collect the dust of darkness.”

As for the point raised by Mr Sekar towards the end of the book, “Knowingly allowing the innocent to suffer wrongful imprisonment, whether convicted or not, should carry a penalty” – anyone who learns about potential miscarriages of justice should not disagree.

Dr Anna Sandiford

Hindrance

Stephen Miller’s solicitor when arrested for the murder of Lynette White, Graham Dobson used a local solicitor Geraint Richards to represent Miller in the interviews. His presence was a hindrance as legally Miller had been represented. Richards failed to intervene while Miller was interviewed in a manner that breached the protections of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE).

Miller was represented ably at the first trial by Anthony Evans QC, who presented the same arguments on oppression that Michael Mansfield QC argued successfully on appeal in December 1992. Evans found Mr Justice McNeill, who died before the first trial ended, in intransigent mood.

Intransigence

Had McNeill ruled as he should have done this case would have been thrown out in 1989. Instead it continued without criticism of McNeill being made by the appeal judges. Why? Judges must understand the law regarding oppression. McNeill’s decision on the admissibility of Miller’s confession was quite simply wrong.

The Court of Appeal, headed by then Lord Chief Justice Lord Taylor, was horrified by the same interviews that McNeill found admissible. He had heard the worst bullying and concluded that it was acceptable. He was wrong and so was the Court of Appeal in failing to highlight his flawed judgement on that issue – one that contributed to making this miscarriage of justice all but inevitable.

Wretched Luck

Evans was unavailable for the second trial. That almost concluded Miller’s wretched luck. Roger Frisby QC failed to argue that Miller had been oppressed in a case that is now one of the standard texts on oppression in a police station. The ‘confession’ was in. Leonard could have used his discretion under Section 78 of PACE to exclude it, but the exercise of that discretion is rare and Leonard didn’t apply it.

The jury heard the confession, but were deprived of the context and understanding of what could induce an innocent man to sign away his future for the shortest of gains and the most paltry reward – an end to the interviewing. His confession, which he retracted had the terrible consequence of convicting his co-defendants Yusef Abdullahi and Tony Paris, despite compelling evidence of innocence.

Inadequate

But there was more. Miller’s lawyers missed the significance of evidence that all but proved him innocent and was available for his trial. Languishing in the unused material was statements by Debbie Actie and Robyn Reed. The young women had seen Miller playing pool shortly after the Crown say Lynette was murdered. Those claims were never retracted.

There were trainer-prints, hairs, finger-prints, fibres and plenty of blood-staining – both that of the killer and of course Lynette’s. This meant that if Miller was guilty he would have had to have removed all traces of the scientific evidence that tied him to the flat and victim without showing any attempt to interfere with it.

He would then have had to clean himself and his clothes so thoroughly that not a speck of blood remained, but without interfering with the dirt on the white parts of his stone-washed jeans. He then had to go across the road to a nightclub and play pool without a change in general demeanour. He had to achieve all this within 20 minutes of the murder and as his lawyers knew with the IQ of an eleven-year-old child.

The prosecution case against Miller should have been laughed out of court – literally – but it was never contradicted as vigorously as it should have been. The poor performance of Miller’s solicitors and Roger Frisby QC have never been investigated, let alone censured.

Michael Mansfield QC

The Fitted-In Project welcomes the publication of Satish Sekar’s new book The Cardiff Five: Innocent Beyond Any Doubt, which follows on from his first book Fitted In: the Cardiff 3 and the Lynette White Inquiry. Sekar’s analysis provides an exhaustive account of a vexed and unique case. His long awaited second book explains why this case rather than any other made history several times.

Bob Woffinden (Author and journalist)

It has taken 14 years for Sekar to produce another book. The Cardiff Five: Innocent Beyond Any Doubt published by Waterside Press has proved worth the wait and sadly necessary. Even now, with their innocence proven, an unjustified whispering campaign continues. This book demonstrates the innocence of the five accused men clearly.

Alun Michael JP, MP

Sekar’s book shows how history was made several times. It details the concept of vindication – a concept developed by Sekar – arguing that it is the motor of change in the criminal justice system that resulted not only in the conviction of the real killer, Jeffrey Gafoor, but  a unique, but ultimately flawed investigation into what went wrong. Sekar points out that this obscured successes and prevented it from achieving its full potential.

Mags Gavan (BAFTA award-winning film-maker)

Martin Shipton – Chief Reporter of the Western Mail and Echo

The Fitted-In Project is saddened that once again the BBC has chosen to marginalise our work on the Lynette White Inquiry, especially that of our founder and CEO, Satish Sekar. We are very disappointed that tonight’s Panorama programme has chosen to rewrite history. For an accurate record of that history-making case see Sekar’s books Fitted In: The Cardiff 3 and the Lynette White Inquiry and The Cardiff Five: Innocent Beyond Any Doubt, which was recently published by Waterside Press.

Michael Mansfield QC

• “Satish Sekar has been assiduous in following the events surrounding the murder of Lynette White in Cardiff in 1988. From the beginning he questioned the techniques that were used and decisions of the authorities in regard to this case and many of his views – which appeared marginal at the time – turned out to be accurate or close to the truth in a way that has certainly helped the cause of justice and investigation. As the local MP I came to respect and admire his thoroughness and persistence … His contribution has been enormous. … Satish is right to continue to ask questions both in respect of the workings of the criminal justice system and the policies that are pursued in a society that seeks to be governed by the Rule of Law.”

The Rt. Hon. Alun Michael JP, MP

The Fitted-In Project is concerned that the impact of the work conducted by its members has been marginalised. Incredibly this includes Professor Dave Barclay, the former Head of Physical Evidence at the National Crime Faculty. Barclay’s role in correcting the miscarriage of justice that befell the Cardiff Five has never been properly acknowledged by media. Sekar’s latest book explains the pivotal role played by Barclay.

Professor Dave Barclay

Sekar was told immediately after the convictions of the Cardiff Three were quashed to move on to other cases. He refused, seeing the potential for change and understanding that the Cardiff Five had to be vindicated – proved innocent beyond doubt by the conviction of the real killer. Other media left him to fight alone. That included the BBC, which only began covering it again after his work had borne fruit. It ignored both him and the work of The Fitted-In Project in that coverage.

Duncan Campbell

• “The Lynette White murder case, with its long-drawn-out repercussions, has now become one of the most important in the entire history of British criminal justice. This is entirely because of the tireless work and extraordinary insight of Satish Sekar, who has fought for many years to achieve justice for all concerned.”

Bob Woffinden