Miscarriage of justice campaigners have called for an independent judicial inquiry into a series of cases investigated by South Wales Police that resulted in wrongful convictions.
A press conference organised by Michael O’Brien, one of three men who spent 11 years in jail for a murder they did not commit, heard from a number of former prisoners whose convictions had been overturned.
Dr Dennis Eady, of Cardiff University’s Innocence Project, said: “People’s lives have been destroyed by miscarriages of justice. Last month was the 70th anniversary of the execution of Mahmood Mattan, the last person to be hanged at Cardiff Prison [wrongly convicted of murdering shopkeeper Lily Volpert].
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“I think also of Nettie Hewins [who died in 2017 after becoming a heroin addict in prison after being wrongly convicted of involvement in an arson attack that resulted in the deaths of a young mother and her two children in Merthyr Tydfil] and Yusuf Abdullahi and Tony Paris [wrongly convicted of killing Cardiff sex worker Lynette White, both of whom are now deceased].”
Mr O’Brien, one of the Cardiff Newsagent Three, who were wrongly convicted of murdering newsagent Phillip Saunders, said: “We are calling on the Ministry of Justice to organise a judicial inquiry that would see a retired judge look at all the cases between 1982 and 2016 affecting South Wales Police in which miscarriages of justice have come to light, find out what went wrong and see what changes should be made to ensure such miscarriages of justice do not occur in the future.
“It’s also important for the sake of the families of the victims that the real killers are caught.”
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Former BBC journalist Phil Parry, who was a member of an investigative team that helped get the convictions of Mr O’Brien and his co-accused quashed, said: “I am shocked that despite all the cases where the wrong people have been convicted, only one real culprit has been identified, in the case of Lynette White, and no police officers have been convicted for their part in securing false convictions.
“So far as I can see, nothing is being done to catch the real killers in these cases. I believe South Wales Police should be scrapped. Wales should have just one police force, like Scotland, a country with a population of six million.
“London, with eight million residents, has two police forces, while Wales, with a population of 3.1 million, has four.”
Plaid Cymru MS Rhys ab Owen, who represents South Wales Central, said: “I fully support these calls for a judicial inquiry. The long-term impact of being a victim of a miscarriage of justice is horrendous. We need to have a proper inquiry so that lessons can be learned for the future.
“I am very aware of cuts in the criminal justice system that could lead to more miscarriage of justice cases in the future.”
John Actie, one of the men falsely accused of murdering Lynette White, who spent two years in jail before being acquitted, said: “We all want justice.
“Even after the right killer [Jeffrey Gafoor] was caught in our case through advances in DNA evidence , police officers claimed that we were in the flat with him when he killed Lynette White.”
An official of the Ministry of Justice responded to Mr O’Brien’s call for a judicial inquiry into miscarriages of justice in the South Wales Police area, stating: “The Ministry of Justice appreciates that miscarriages of justice are a blight on the criminal justice system and have a devastating impact on all those involved.
“That is why it funds the independent Criminal Cases Review Commission, which can receive applications from anyone who believes they have been wrongly convicted or sentenced and refer their case back to an appeal court if it finds a real possibility a court will overturn the verdict or change the sentence.
“ … In terms of your wider points about miscarriages of justice, each organisation involved in the criminal justice system is expected to carry out its duties in accordance with the rule of law. There are currently no plans to set up a judicial inquiry to investigate these matters.”
Assistant Chief Constable Dave Thorne said: “South Wales Police has demonstrated an absolute commitment to learning from mistakes to improve its service to the victims of these most terrible crimes. We have used previous experiences to drive up investigative standards and transform the way we carry out major investigations.
“We have led the way on improving and professionalising investigative practice and have become a leading force in major crime investigations. For example, our learning around the challenges of disclosure in the criminal justice system have led to recognised good practice that has been shared nationally. We also organise and host the National Review Officers Conference where good practice around the investigation of cold cases across the United Kingdom is shared. The 15th annual conference has been running in Cardiff this week.
“Cases where there has been a miscarriage of justice here in South Wales have been the subject of much public and independent scrutiny, reinvestigation and review to make sure that no stone remains unturned.
“We do not forget those who have been affected by miscarriages of justice and we do not underestimate the impact this has had on individuals. We have acknowledged and apologised for these in the past and our sincere sympathies remain with them.
“The stark truth of this impact has strengthened our determination to uphold the highest investigative standards to prevent this from happening again.”
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