by Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (June 1st 2011)

Lectures

If we intend to keep handing out lectures on human rights to other governments, then we have to address our own failings. There are seven vindication cases in Britain in the DNA age. Two of them occurred in London, one in Hampshire, another in West Yorkshire, one near the border between Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire and the other two were in Wales.

For legal reasons the Welsh ones could not be detailed[2] – there were trials in progress in both cases. John Pope had won an appeal, which led to a retrial in Newport before Mr Justice Roderick Evans. I covered that trial. The other trial was the Lynette White Inquiry Police Corruption Trial.

Both Phillip Skipper and the Cardiff Five had been vindicated, but were still facing unwarranted accusations. Nevertheless, the effects still need to be addressed in all vindication cases.

Shameful

Stefan Kiszko is dead and so is his remarkable mother, Charlotte. Both went to their graves without receiving assistance to rebuild their lives or even compensation. By todayʼs provisions, Kiszko was entitled to both, but he was long dead.

He lost over sixteen years of his life for a crime he did not commit and it was patently obvious early in the Lesley Molseed Inquiry that Kiszko was innocent. He could not produce semen, but that was on her clothing and was therefore an early and important clue.

The late Jack Dibb was charged over the Kiszko case as was his then subordinate Dick Holland and a forensic scientist Ronald Outteridge. The charges were dropped by a magistrate after Dibbʼs death. Years later a hit on the National DNA Database resulted in the identification of Ronald Castree as the prime suspect.

Thirty-two years after Molseed was murdered Castree was convicted. He still protests his innocence, but the real victim of the miscarriage of justice is Kiszko. He was wrongly labelled a pervert for exposing himself to school-girls. It later emerged that this was the justification for suspecting him in the first place, but that accusation was false too.

Years later, with Kiszkoʼs life ruined, the girls admitted that they had lied about him for a laugh! This illustrates the dangers of relying on the uncorroborated claims of immature people. The wheels of justice began turning at break-neck speed as a result of that and the subsequent obsession with Kiszko.

Appalling

Kiszko was failed disgracefully by the criminal justice system. His defence layers knew about the semen issue, but failed to present evidence at his trial that would have cleared him beyond doubt. The consequences were dreadful. He was attacked in prison and damaged irreparably by his ordeal. He never recovered and never saw Castree brought to justice.

While his defence lawyers at trial must take the lionʼs share of the blame and deservedly too, the rest of the criminal justice is not blameless either. The evidence against Kiszko was hopeless.

He was a vulnerable man coerced by inadequate interviewing methods into confessing to a crime he did not commit. Progress has been made in this respect. Confessions, especially from such vulnerable people, are not treated as the Holy Grail they once were.

Such advances are signs of an integrated approach to evidence having been developed, but too late for Kiszko. If the scientific evidence had been handled in a competent manner, the truth could have emerged in time to prevent that tragedy occurring.

Sadly it is too late to do anything for Kiszko or his mother, but his experiences must be recalled with disgust and a determination to learn from them. Nothing resembling this must ever be allowed to happen again.

Investigative methods must be fully integrated with advances in science and also current forensic science techniques. Rules of evidence must be adapted too. For evidence of innocence to be available early in this process, yet take sixteen years to emerge, while an innocent manʼs life was destroyed, is utterly unacceptable.

Post-Conviction Relief

Sean Hodgson, at least is still alive and eligible for both compensation and the inadequate after-care provided by the government through the Miscarriages of Justice Support Service (MJSS),[3] a misnomer if ever there was one. Hodgson served nearly three decades in prison for the rape and murder of Teresa di Simone. David Lace was the real perpetrator. His post-conviction confession was found to be unreliable, yet discrepancies in Hodgsonʼs account and the lack of scientific evidence were discounted. His new lawyers were told that samples to test no longer existed, but eventually testable material was located and Hodgson was cleared. Vindication followed soon, as Laceʼs confession was tested against scientific evidence. His guilt was proved, but Lace was long dead. Hodgson qualifies for assistance from the MJSS and is eligible for compensation too. Of seven vindication cases in Britain, Hodgson alone is eligible for both and alive to claim it.

Britainʼs Supreme Court recently produced a definition of a miscarriage of justice with reference to a compensation claim by Andrew Adams, but regardless of it, many victims of miscarriages of justice including the vindicated remain excluded from eligibility for compensation and after-care too.[4] There is no doubt that Colin Stagg is and always was completely innocent of any involvement in the murder of Rachel Nickell. It is hard to find a more blinkered investigation than that one. The honey-trap was more in keeping with Cold War intrigue than legitimate investigation of crime, yet it was attempted. It was quite rightly thrown out by Mr Justice (Sir Harry) Ognall in 1994 after Stagg had been in prison on remand for the best part of a year.

Stagg emerged to a vitriolic whispering campaign, fuelled among others by disgruntled police officers who felt aggrieved that the evidence they had gathered was not accepted. The honey-trap officer, referred to as Lizzie James, was compensated before Stagg after it affected her career – she left the police and country too over it. There never was any credible evidence against Stagg; it had to be generated through those unethical methods. It also helped to end the career of Paul Britton; he deserved nothing less. Despite his efforts to distance himself from the scandal, he is not a victim in this and nor are the officers who allowed that honey-trap to proceed and nor is the CPS either.

An integrated approach to crime investigation could have prevented the whole fiasco from happening. Stagg was not a likely killer. There was nothing in his criminal record or character traits that justified suspecting him at all and there was no scientific evidence against him either. Meanwhile, the real killer, Robert Napper, should have emerged as a suspect far earlier and at least two lives could have been saved if a rape allegation had been investigated competently. DNA testing eventually resolved the case beyond doubt by conclusively linking Napper to Nickellʼs murder, but this was a catalogue of errors in both investigations and that continued after resolution too.

Stagg has been paid substantial compensation and rightly so, but were the same thing to happen now, he would not be eligible. That is shameful, but it is in some ways worse that he does not qualify for assistance to rebuild his life. Any definition of a miscarriage of justice that does not include Colin Stagg, is an affront to common sense and justice too and any scheme to assist victims of miscarriages of justice to recover from their ordeal that does not help him is a disgrace. But it does not stop there.

In 2006 four young men should have received an apology from the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. A crass error by forensic scientist Sian Hedges was discovered during a review of the Damilola Taylor Inquiry. Original suspects Ricky and Danny Preddie had been eliminated due in part to the absence of blood evidence on their property. It later emerged that a training shoe belonging to Danny had clear traces of blood on it – the photograph proved it.[5] The blood was DNA tested and found to have been shed by Taylor. Fibre evidence also linked them to the 10 year-oldʼs death. The Preddie brothers changed their account of their movements as a result, but were convicted of manslaughter in August 2006.

Four years earlier four boys were acquitted by judge or jury. The case against them was a travesty. A witness referred to in court as Bromley was utterly unreliable to put it mildly, but there were other signs that something was badly wrong as well. A trawl of Feltham Young Offenders Institute produced so called evidence, some of which came from witnesses of the lowest possible order. Instead of helping those boys to rebuild their lives – one of them has been deported as a crime risk – they have been left to fend for themselves and are denied even an expression of regret, let alone apology. The effect the wrongful accusation of murdering Damilola has had on his life and subsequent conduct has not been considered on that decision or on the future. He is an adult now, living in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country that is far from stable and to which he has little or no connection to any more, as he left it aged nine.

[1] An indication of the importance of an integrated approach can be seen in Equality of Arms, at http://fittedin.org/fittedin/?p=690  for more on this case and others too.

[2] This article was part of a presentation made at a conference to medical practitioners, which included forensic    pathologists, in 2011. At the time two trials were taking place – the Lynette White Police Inquiry Police Corruption Trial and the retrial of John Pope for the murder of Karen Skipper. Both of these re vindication cases and ones that FIP has taken an interest in. Pope was subsequently convicted. The Police Corruption Trial was halted on the orders of the judge, following serious failures by the prosecution. This is ironic as the CPS imposed conditions on others, especially myself and Fitted-In while displaying extremely shoddy standards itself, which should have led to serious consequences for it. This is one of the reasons we still demand a Truth and Justice Commission into the whole of this case, rather than the deeply flawed processes that have occurred so far.

[3] Hodgson died in October 2012, aged 61.

[4] The sadly defunct Fitted-In Journal covered this issue in A Deafening Silence. Regrettably other media, including the Guardian and New Statesman, insist on ignoring this scandal, while claiming that it is the type of story that is important to them. We will republish it soon.

[5] See The Partial Truth Truth – Errors of Judgement at http://fittedin.org/fittedin/?p=743 for our coverage of this issue.

The Review

The review of the error made by forensic scientist Sian Hedges, then of the Forensic Science Service (FSS), in the Damilola Taylor Inquiry after the conviction of the Preddie brothers (Ricky and Danny) for the manslaughter of Taylor served a purpose – a log and dishonourable one. It took the previous miscarriage of justice off the agenda for a while at least.

It was conducted by emeritus professor in forensic science at Strathclyde University Brian Caddy and Alan Rawley QC. Both were appointed by the Home Office because Hedges missed crucial blood-staining that originated from Taylor on clothing and footwear of the Preddie brothers during the original inquiry.

Terms of Reference

The terms of reference of the review were: to conduct a review of the forensic examination of evidence conducted by the FSS during the Damilola Taylor Inquiry; to establish an agreed set of facts and time-line of the FSS examination of this evidence and to make recommendations to the Home Secretary on whether re-examination of forensic evidence in other comparable cases is required.

It was also tasked to make recommendations to both the Home Secretary and board of the FSS on whether changes are required to its examination procedures, recruitment, training and management of forensic scientists by the FSS. Finally, it had the power to make whatever recommendations it deems necessary on the future role of the Forensic Regulator in overseeing applicable standards to all suppliers of forensic services to the criminal justice system within the UK.

ʻIndependentʼ

However, the ʻindependentʼ review did not specifically investigate whether Hedges committed perjury in the trial earlier this year that resulted in the acquittal of Hassan Jihad on all charges and the Preddie brothers of murder and robbery. It is also unsatisfactory as it does not view the case as an integrated whole.

The Sentamu Inquiry, which was chaired by the Archbishop of York John Sentamu, looked at the treatment of vulnerable witnesses in isolation and this did the same regarding the scientific evidence.

The review did not consider how the Damilola Taylor Inquiry was mishandled in the first place. Hedges’ error does not explain how the original defendants were allowed to stand trial in 2002. Despite being obliged to deliver best value, neither the Metropolitan Police, nor its police authority have any plans for an inquiry into what went wrong – errors that almost derailed justice permanently.

We should be told how relying on a clearly unreliable witness (Bromley) without testing how such a witness would stand up to cross-examination delivers best value to the public, rather than placing an inexcusable drain on public resources that could have been put to far better use. The role of the CPS needs to be scrutinised thoroughly.

Lack of Interest

There seems to be no interest to establish what went wrong in the original investigation beyond the scientific evidence. That will not suffice. Had wrongful convictions been obtained in the original trial through highly dubious methods there would have been no cold case review which discovered Hedges’ error and the truly guilty Preddie brothers would never have been brought to justice.

The original inquiry was riddled with errors and questionable conduct which included sending a round robin invitation to inmates at Feltham Young Offenders Institution to make incriminating remarks about the original defendants that might be used to convict them. There was a review into the use of child witnesses, but the original defendants were not invited to participate. They have never been given the opportunity to participate in these inquiries, let alone one that looks at the whole case in the light of knowledge that is now available.

]]> https://fittedin.org/fittedin/?feed=rss2&p=749 0 https://fittedin.org/fittedin/?p=743 https://fittedin.org/fittedin/?p=743#comments Fri, 21 Nov 2014 00:18:04 +0000 http://fittedin.org/fittedin/?p=743 Read more]]> by Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar January 11^th 2006

Failure

Ricky Preddie and his brother Danny were nineteen and eighteen years old respectively when they were convicted in August 2006 of the manslaughter of ten year old Damilola Taylor, which occurred in Peckham on November 27^th 2000.

Shortly after the verdicts were brought in the Home Office announced a review of the error that caused justice to be delayed. Sian Hedges, then working for the Forensic Science Service, missed crucial blood-staining that originated from Taylor on clothing and footwear of the Preddie brothers.

It did not investigate whether Hedges committed perjury in the trial earlier this year that resulted in the acquittal of Hassan Jihad on all charges and the Preddie brothers of murder and robbery regarding her work on the case, which resulted in a miscarriage of justice as four boys were wrongfully accused of the murder of Damilola Taylor.

In 2002 they were either acquitted by the jury or on the orders of the trial judge, a then Mr Justice (Sir Anthony) Hooper. The accusations against those four boys and that the truly guilty (Preddie brothers) evaded justice until now is a miscarriage of justice despite wrongful convictions not occurring.

No Answer

When originally confronted with her error, Hedges had no answer other than that she had missed it. She repeated this in evidence. When pressed by Orlando Pownall QC, Hedges said: “I’ve been thinking about it overnight and I think it’s unlikely that I wouldn’t have seen it.¹ My explanation is that I would have KM-tested² it and produced a negative result”.

This suggests that either the staining which was clearly visible to the naked eye was not there when she examined the trainer, or the presumptive test was negative. Both interpretations are fanciful at best. Original photographs show the stains clearly and if the KM-tests were negative, where are her laboratory notes of the tests that she claims she would have conducted and why did she fail to come up with this explanation earlier?

The question of how a presumptive test for possible blood-staining on a large area that was in fact blood could test negative also seems to have escaped her. Although false negatives can occur, they don’t in the circumstances of this case. It is a rare phenomenon that is unlikely to only be remembered as an afterthought years later.

Innocents

Four innocent boys stood trial for the same crime in 2002. That trial collapsed due to the unreliability of the key witness referred to as Bromley. John Sentamu, now Archbishop of York, headed an inquiry into police handling of vulnerable child witnesses like Bromley that resulted in recommendations.

The Home Office review focused on how the vital evidence that secured the convictions was missed in the first place. There was no investigation into how the Damilola Taylor Inquiry was mishandled in the first place. Hedges’ error does not explain how the innocent original defendants were allowed to stand trial years ago.

Neither the Metropolitan police, nor its police authority have announced any plans for an inquiry into what went wrong – errors that almost derailed justice permanently. Indeed, had wrongful convictions been obtained then through highly dubious methods, the Preddie brothers would never have been brought to justice.