Absurd

The Cardiff Five is far from the only miscarriage of justice case from the 1980s and 90s that involves lying witnesses and proven malpractice by police, but it is the only one to result in convictions for perjury. It is not even the only one in South Wales. The case against the Newsagentʼs Three (Michael OʼBrien, Ellis Sherwood and Darren Hall) was never compelling, but they lost more than a decade of their lives.

OʼBrien has waged what was on occasions a one-man battle for justice. He has overwhelming evidence that the investigation that convicted him involved far more than the ʻmonkey businessʼ that prosecutor Gerard Elias QC described. There were over a hundred breaches of the Police And Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) and strong evidence of a pattern of malpractice involving Lewis.

Ten years ago the Newsagentʼs Three were bailed, pending the quashing of their convictions for the murder of Phillip Saunders. Despite admitting perjuring themselves in a BBC Wales documentary on the case Helen Morris and Christopher Chick were never charged. The police officer at the heart of that investigation Stuart Lewis had a history of dubious conduct as well. To date the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) failed to get to the truth. OʼBrienʼs ground-breaking civil action was settled by South Wales Police without admitting liability or issuing an apology¹.

Egregious

Gary Mills and Tony Poole were freed after 14 years wrongful imprisonment in June 2003. Last April the IPCC announced that after an ʻinvestigationʼ lasting over four years, no police officers would be charged or disciplined over their case despite a libel trial, the then Lord Chief Justice, appeal judges and Law Lords reaching different conclusions.

Even the 1996 appeal judges, whose conclusions that the verdicts were safe was quite simply wrong, strongly criticised Detective Inspector Trevor Gladdingʼs conduct, euphemistically branding it ʻexceedingly unwiseʼ. And there was more police conduct that they criticised without interfering with the verdicts then.

Those judges also described the policeʼs conduct towards a crucial witness Paul White, who claimed to have seen a fist make a downward movement and heard a man shout “No Tony, no”! above the sound of a blaring sound system. Nobody else inside the flat heard that and if White had seen what he claims then he had to be at least ten feet tall, as the flat is on an incline to street level.

Burning Injustice

Detective Constables Brian Paine and Mark Cheminais also allowed White to lie in his witness statement by saying he had gone there on his own when he had previously said that he had gone there with the late Andrew Neal. White was facing arson charges at the time, which were not prosecuted subsequently.

He was described at trial as an important witness, but Lord Justice Otton as he then was dismissed his evidence as ʻincapable of beliefʼ. Despite overwhelming evidence that White lied, he has never been investigated for perjury and perverting the course of justice, let alone charged. Why not?

Less than a month after the convictions of Mills and Poole were quashed, Jeffrey Gafoor pleaded guilty to the murder of Lynette White, vindicating the Cardiff Five and the process that would result in perjurers being convicted over a miscarriage of justice began.

Do Mills and Poole have to wait for similar resolution of their case before Whiteʼs lies are even investigated? There is strong evidence of police malpractice in this case that has yet to be adequately investigated too². Do the Newsagentʼs Three have to be vindicated too? There ought to be a better and fairer way.

Justice Warrior

Miscarriage of justice survivor and committed campaigner for justice Gerry Conlon has died at his home in Belfast aged 60 after a long illness. Even if they live to be a 100 few people will make the impact that Gerry Conlon did. Conlon endured 15 long years of wrongful imprisonment along with Patrick Armstrong, Paul Hill and Carole Richardson (the Guildford Four).

October 19^th 1989 was a day that shook the foundations of British justice to its core. The smug complacency that it was the best in the world was laid bare. A procession of innocent people blinking in the daylight of freedom, fists clenched in the air, followed the Guildford Four to freedom as conviction after conviction was quashed, but for many the euphoria soon faded as the outrages of life took their toll.

Committed

There was no after-care provided by the State that had so egregiously wronged so many people when Conlon emerged to face the worldʼs media. Over a decade would pass before a new government, which despite its many wrongs, at least had the decency to apologise to the Guildford Four for what they went through, established a very limited scheme to provide after-care.

Despite his failing health Conlon remained committed to social justice, using his Facebook page to highlight causes he held dear. Conlon was a warrior for justice warrior before armchair campaigning became fashionable. He was an inspiration to many along with Paddy Hill and Michael OʼBrien and the late Yusef Abdullahi in particular.

A True Hero

Conlon campaigned for others. The Birmingham Six were the first, but not last. I met him in 1991. He listened attentively as I told him of a shameful miscarriage – naïvely. There was little or nothing I could tell him that he didnʼt know for himself – that he had not experienced. He spoke to their families and encouraged their campaign. He went to Cardiff and helped put the Cardiff Threeʼs Campaign on the map.

The rest of what happened in that case is history, but it owes Gerry Conlon a huge debt and so do I. We have lost a champion of justice and the world is a worse place without him. What would have happened if Gerry and his supporters had not been so tenacious? Would that glorious day in 1989 have happened? Would justice have prevailed for the many that followed him? Who knows, but thankfully it did happen. Gerry Conlon, you will be missed.