Richard Horwell QC has completed his report and it has been considered by the Home Secretary, who scraped back into Parliament by the skin of her teeth. Amber Rudd has welcomed it – no surprise there. Horwell thinks the failures were due to human error. That contributed to it, but it was at best a lacklustre prosecution. It refused to utilise important evidence that unequivocally proved the Cardiff were innocent, and did so before they stood trial in 1989 and again in 1990. High quality evidence proving this was conspicuous by its absence in the prosecution case in 2011 and even in rebuttal of the outrageous defence. Adding insult to injury the sham processes culminating in the Horwell Report have not even acknowledged that this evidence existed, let alone deal with its exclusion. Rudd welcomes the sham and hopes that this is the end of the story. It is not. Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done. In this case, despite the clearest vindication possible, justice has been seen to be denied. It still is. Horwell had an opportunity – albeit limited – to redress a gross wrong. He has failed to do so.

It should now be clear that the approach favoured by South Wales Police and others of aiding the three sham inquiries and refusing to comment on the shameful miscarriage of justice that befell the Cardiff Five and affected the community that had a right to expect the highest standards that it did not receive, has achieved its intent. Whether that force (its highest ranks shared that intent or not) the deliberate prevention of learning the lessons of an utterly shameful miscarriage of justice has occurred because of these processes that had no ability to deliver justice, or intent – their aim was altogether more sinister. The sham processes served their purpose of taking the case off the agenda long enough for it to be forgotten about and the damage that it was perceived that it could cause, limited. The dismal failures of this approach and failed processes have not been addressed. The pathetic platitudes about innocence and miscarriage of justice are risible – contemptible in fact.

All three sham processes the HMCPSI, IPCC and now Horwell achieved their purpose of delaying and ultimately thwarting justice. They were and are the pathetic sham I knew they would be. It was obvious what they would be. The Terms of Reference of all three made that clear. They were a gross waste of public funds and the politicians responsible should be surcharged.

South Wales Police’s PSD stole my work and published it to others in flagrant breach of my copyright, and knowing that I not only did not support these sham processes, but that I viewed them with total contempt. The justification provided for that theft was a year after the fact and demonstrably wrong in law – it is astonishing that Police Complaints Commission (it has to demonstrate independence in practice for me to call it Independent) failed to notice that. The fact that South Wales Police see nothing wrong with the department complained of investigating itself and expect me to provide paperwork their officers failed to provide, despite it being made clear that was required, demonstrates bad faith. It is amazing that the so-called complaints procedure and senior ranks who discussed it accept the shoddy note-keeping etc when it suits them, but ignore the fact no note exists of the terms of my cooperation at all. How convenient for them. If that is not properly redressed I reserve the right to take whatever action is necessary regarding it. South Wales Police stole my cooperation for processes they knew I had concluded were designed to cheat justice. They even had the very officer complained about investigating himself!

All three of these shams ignored the original miscarriage of justice and its causes and effects. All three ignored the disgraceful abuse of justice that jailed three vulnerable people (the bullied witnesses I refer to as the New Cardiff Three) that the court accepted had been subjected to conduct that was ‘unacceptable in a civilised society’. The archaic demands of the law on duress was conspicuous by its absence in all three shams. All three failed to notice that the 2011 farce was set up to fail – disclosure providing a neat smokescreen to hide inexplicably crass prosecutorial decisions. An illuminating light will be shone on those decisions in my forthcoming book Trials and Tribulations – Innocence Matters?

I have already detailed some of these failings in my previous books Fitted In: The Cardiff 3 and the Lynette White Inquiry and The Cardiff Five: Innocent Beyond Any Doubt. Criticisms raised in them of the investigative and judicial processes that led to the notorious miscarriage of justice and maintained it even after vindication, are conspicuous by their absence in the three shams. The failure to use compelling scientific evidence even after a deplorable and utterly false defence was advanced in 2011 trial is disgraceful. Where was the analysis of that in the three sham processes?

The processes that South Wales Police and others supported have failed miserably. Rather than reward mediocrity and gross injustice, if any truly care about justice they will not only join me in demanding a Truth and Justice Commission into the whole case, but campaign actively until that Commission is established. Justice and integrity demand nothing less!

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

The remarkable story of a truly exceptional human being.Mpagi Edward Edmary. Sentenced to death in Uganda, he served 18 years on Death Row for the murder of William Wandyaka and his co-accused Fred Masembe died from neglect – he was denied treatment for malaria and in a weakened state, subsequently died from complications. Edmary came close to being executed a few times, but in 2000 he received a Presidential Pardon, because the alleged victim was in fact alive and well!

Edmary tells his exceptional story to Kervin Julien and \Dr David Romei with the assistance of Ronald Katongole and Satish Sekar. Edmary helps people he left behind on Death Row and is a passionate advocate against the death penalty and injustice. He is also involved with Dream One World (see http://fittedin.org/fittedin/?p=1156). He is a remarkable person with an extraordinary story.

–

Radio Cardiff

Part One Satish Sekar with Georgina Sammut and Shawty

Satish Sekar discusses the foundation of The Fitted-In Project and why it was re-established on this Community Radio programme. He explains why the vindication of the Cardiff Five was necessary. Sekar details the methods used to secure convictions and consequences of it. He comments on why he holds the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) more responsible than the police for the wrongful prosecutions of the Cardiff Five. Sekar credits the work of Professor Dave Barclay in the eventual vindication of the Cardiff Five and also South Wales Police in correctly solving the murder of Lynette White. He details how they detected Gafoor.

Part Two Satish Sekar with Georgina Sammut and Shawty

Sekar explains the arrest of Jeffey Gafoor and the significance of vindication. There are currently seven such cases in Britain. He explains that there are more victims of these cases and that there has to be processes to explain how justice miscarried. Sekar details the trial of the core witnesses. He calls them the New Cardiff Three, He explains the role of the CPS in another vindication case, that of Phillip Skipper, for the murder of his estranged wife, Karen. It gifted a defence to the real murderer, John Pope, who repeatedly accused Skipper of being the murderer after Skipper had been acquitted and had sadly died. Sekar details how Barclay demolishes the prosecution scenario in the Lynette White Inquiry and why he should have been a witness in the collapsed trial, before explaining why Sekar was prevented from attending the Police Corruption Trial and its consequences. He explains his controversial view that the CPS, rather than South Wales Police are more responsible for the miscarriages of justice and how they have evaded taking responsibility for any of it. Sekar also calls for fiscal responsibility. He says both the IPCC and HMCPSI processes were inadequate.

Part Three Satish Sekar with Georgina Sammut and Shawty

In the third part of these interviews Sekar explains the process of trying to secure accountability from the CPS over the whole case. The CPS refused to answer his complaint – a process that has been ongoing since 1993! He explains how its own Code for Crown Prosecutors proves the Cardiff Five should never have been prosecuted. Sekar details why the CPS has to be held responsible and that Alun Michael has asked questions of the CPS as well. He then explains some projects that The Fitted-In Project conducts and the scandalous treatment that all the victims of vindication cases have been subjected to. Sekar then makes his case for fiscal accountability.

Discussion hosted by Dr Feelgood aka Kervin Julien

Guests – Gregg L. Greer, Alex M. Salazar and Satish Sekar

Kervin Julien hosts a lively discussion on police brutality, miscarriages of justice and the lack of accountability over it on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Former police officer, turned activist, Alex Salazar details the battle for justice over brutality in Ferguson and New York, while Gregg Greer, President of Freedom First International, gave his perspective on the struggle for accountability in the USA. Satish Sekar spoke about the Crown Prosecution Service failing to ensure accountability, especially in the Lynette White Inquiry.

Discussion hosted by Dr Feelgood aka Kervin Julien

Guests – Gregg L. Greer, Alex M. Salazar, Satish Sekar and David Whitt 

Kervin Julien continues to moderate the discussion on police brutality and the lack of accountability. Towards the end of the programme one of the activists leading the fight for accountability in Ferguson, David Whitt, joins in. Julien has promised to return to these issues soon.

]]> https://fittedin.org/fittedin/?feed=rss2&p=949 0 https://fittedin.org/fittedin/?p=891 https://fittedin.org/fittedin/?p=891#comments Sun, 11 Jan 2015 09:40:53 +0000 http://fittedin.org/fittedin/?p=891

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

Steven Bird
(Leading solicitor and Treasurer of the Criminal Appeals Lawyers’ Association)

We highlighted issues that other media have ignored – issues that contribute to the miscarrying of justice and the continued devastation of the lives of all of the victims of these injustices.Yusef Abdullahi was deprived of assistance to rebuild his life despite a government scheme to assist victims of miscarriages of justice. It took 8 years to correct a scandalous error by a Home Office appointed consultant. All other media have ignored this scandal.

Richard Adams
(Father of racist murder victim Rolan and Trustee of The Fitted-In Project)

We offered the BBC unique access to the historic inquiry into what went wrong, having secured unprecedented co-operation from the police. The BBC didn’t bother to accompany us to Cardiff to do so in 2008, refusing to commit to a story it now says is important for them to cover.

Mags Gavan
(BAFTA award-winning documentary-maker)

Sekar was offered an insulting choice by the BBC to take part in the programme by the BBC, which they have not tried to impose on other journalists who have not achieved as much. Sekar agreed to be interviewed, subject to a complaint. The conditions would ensure that his criticisms of the BBC designed to assist the reporting of miscarriages of justice and related issues would never be broadcast.

The Fitted-In Project is concerned about the conditions that the BBC tried to impose and justify even now. Nobody else has been treated like this, especially after an unprecedented achievement. For the truth about the Lynette White Inquiry see Sekar’s books Fitted In: The Cardiff 3 and the Lynette White Inquiry and The Cardiff Five: Innocent Beyond Any Doubt, which was published recently by Waterside Press.