The notorious Sayers brothers have received a "substantial" payout after taking legal action against the Crown Prosecution Service.
John Henry Sayers, his brother Stephen and their friend Mark Rowe had accused prosecutors of withholding evidence that would have helped clear them as they stood trial for a jury-nobbling plot.
But now the Chronicle can exclusively reveal that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has agreed an out of court settlement with the trio.
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And the brothers have now received a substantial sum of money.
Today Stephen, 56, has told of his relief at seeing the case finally settled.
But he said no amount of money could make up for the months he spent in prison on remand for a crime he did not commit.
He told the Chronicle: "I was remanded in custody with my brother John and my friend Mark Rowe for a crime we did not commit. The evidence against us was very, very weak."
"I spent 15 months on remand. That's time I will never get back."
The case came about after John Henry was cleared of murdering Freddie Knights, who was shot dead on his mum’s Longbenton doorstep, in 2002.
Years later, John Henry, Stephen and their associate Rowe were accused of concocting a jury-nobbling plot during the murder trial and were charged with perverting the course of justice.
When the trio stood trial in 2010, it was alleged they had ordered supergrass Errol Hay to make a threatening phone call to the home of one of the jurors in 2002.
The cocaine addict claimed to have made the anonymous call threatening the juror's family and offering them £10,000 if they “made the right decision”.
After making the initial call, Hay – a registered police informant – said he travelled to a second telephone box in Hetton-le-Hole to ring a second number.
But detectives found he could not have made the calls.
Officers analysed call records from the second box identified by Hay, but intelligence showed the call could not have been made from any of the 14 telephone boxes in Hetton-le-Hole.
The trial collapsed and as one of the country’s top judges threw out the case he criticised the prosecution’s handling of it.
Sitting under armed security at Woolwich Crown Court, Mr Justice Jeremy Cooke said: “In my judgement, there was a deliberate, conscious decision to flout the rules of disclosure with a view to putting forward the least damaging admission possible.
“That took place over an extended period of time with procrastination and prevarication. Whether this is termed bad faith or serious default of duty does not in the end to my mind matter.
“It was a gross failure which has undoubtedly prejudiced the defendants and has resulted in an unfair trial in front of this jury which is not curable.
“This in my judgement is one of those rare cases where the abuse is so serious because the prosecution has manipulated the process of the court and derived advantages they should not have achieved."
David Kingsley Hyland OBE, who was the head of complex casework unit for Northumbria CPS, claimed he “took his eye off the ball” and insisted he had intended to pass on the information during the course of the trial.
But Mr Justice Cooke blasted the CPS, claiming they had failed to be “full and frank” in disclosing key evidence that would damage their case.
He said: “I have no doubt that [Mr Hyland] was looking to minimise the damage to Mr Hay’s credibility and to the prosecution case by making as limited an admission as possible.”
He added: “The material was undoubtedly damaging to the prosecution and assisted the case of the defendants in what is essentially, from the prosecution’s perspective, a one witness case."
Hay was diagnosed with a brain tumour just days before he was due to give evidence during the trial. It is also thought Hay, who went under the knife just days after standing in the witness box, was also suffering from lung cancer and died in 2011.
The Sayers brothers and Rowe agreed the out of court settlement late last year.
The Chronicle has seen papers from Newcastle County Court which order the CPS to pay all three claimants an agreed sum.
It says: "Without admission of liability the claim shall be settled on the terms of the attached confidential schedule."
The Sayers, from Elswick in Newcastle, earned a reputation as one of the North East’s most notorious underworld families in the 1990s.
But in 2015 Stephen revealed that he was turning his back on crime.
However Stephen, who has always believed his family are persecuted because of their reputation, does not feel like he has closure after receiving the settlement.
"This will not end," he said. "We are retired now but I don't think we will ever be free. I have considered leaving the country because of this. It's not a crime to be a Sayers but still I get punished for it."
A CPS spokesperson said: “The matter has concluded without admission of liability and it would not be appropriate to comment further.”
