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[HaveHope]

Eight retired policemen stand trial today accused of causing a major miscarriage of justice leading to the jailing of three men over the murder of Cardiff prostitute Lynette White.

All eight are jointly accused in the biggest trial of it kind involving former police officers in UK criminal history.

They are alleged to have colluded to pervert the course of justice following the murder of Miss White.

Two former police civilian staff are also accused of supporting the conspiracy by lying under oath.

The 20-year-old was stabbed more than 50 times at her flat in the docks area of Cardiff in 1988.

Stephen Miller, Yusef Abdullahi and Tony Paris were convicted of her murder in 1990 in what became known as a notorious miscarriage of justice.

Cousins Ronnie and John Actie, who stood trial with those who became known as the ’Cardiff Three’, were acquitted at the time.

The three convictions and two acquittals came at the end of what was the second murder trial involving all five men.

But in 1992 the convictions of Miller, Abdullahi and Paris were quashed by the court of appeal and they were released.

In 2003 Jeffrey Gafoor, a client of Ms White, pleaded guilty to her brutal murder and is now serving a life sentence.

Mr Abdullahi, 49, died earlier this year.

Three senior former police officers will figure prominently in the trial at Swansea Crown Court.

They are retired chief superintendent Thomas Page and retired chief inspectors Graham Mouncher and Richard Powell.

Five other retired police officers are Michael Daniels, Paul Jennings, Paul Stephen, Peter Greenwood, John Seaford.

The eight men are all jointly accused of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Violet Perriam and Ian Massey, with Mouncher, are also each accused of two counts of perjury.

Four other ex-policemen are also jointly accused of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and will stand trial separately next year.

The trial jury will be sworn in today from a panel of 400 who have been told that proceedings could last up to seven months.

High Court judge Mr Justice Sweeney will preside over both this trial and next year’s trial, a date for which has yet to be fixed.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/07/06/eight-retired-policemen-to-stand-trial-over-roles-in-lynette-white-murder-trial-91466-29003229/

[HaveHope]

A FATHER wrongly accused of the notorious murder of a Cardiff prostitute has been found dead.

Yusef Abdullahi, 49, was one of three men jailed in 1990 for the brutal 1988 slaying of Lynette White.

It is understood Mr Abdullahi died at home in Grangetown, Cardiff, on Thursday, of a suspected heart attack.

The Coroner’s Officer for Cardiff confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.

Friend Anthony Schurmar, 50, from Barry, said Mr Abdullahi had been able to rebuild his life over the past two years from the wreckage of his painful experiences.

Mr Schurmar said: “Through the thought of spending the rest of his life in prison for something he didn’t do, he went off the rails. But he regained his confidence lately. He was looking forward to getting on with the rest of his life. He was a good man.”

Cardiff solicitor Matthew De Maid, whose firm represented Mr Abdullahi through the original case and appeal, described Mr Abdullahi’s death as “very sad”.

He added: “He found life very difficult following his case and wrongful conviction. He found it difficult to come to terms with life even after he was formally cleared. His case is a reminder of the devastating consequences on someone’s life if they are a victim of a miscarriage of justice.”

South Wales Police Chief Constable Peter Vaughan said: “My thoughts are with the family and friends of Mr Abdullahi and I am sorry for their untimely loss.”

Mr Abdullahi was treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after his release from Gartree high security prison in Leicestershire, in 1992. But he continued to campaign for the victims of other miscarriages of justice and for the reopening of the case for which he was wrongly jailed.

He told the Echo in 1996: “Until it happens to you, no-one can have any idea what it’s like to be convicted for a murder you didn’t commit.

“We’ve been really messed up by what we’ve been through. We needed counselling, but no-one offered us any help. Being inside really did my head in.”

Mr Abdullahi was due to give evidence at the trial of 13 serving and former policemen and two police workers, in May, accused of perverting the course of justice in relation to the Lynette White investigation.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/01/25/man-wrongly-jailed-for-murder-dies-aged-49-91466-28047343/

[HaveHope]

A DETECTIVE led a team of eight officers who “fitted up” three men jailed for life for the murder of a prostitute, a jury was told yesterday.

Now-retired Chief Inspector Graham Mouncher, 59, is alleged to have “bullied and brow-beaten” witnesses to fake evidence against the trio for killing Lynette White.

Prosecutor Nicholas Dean QC said Mouncher ­orchestrated a conspiracy to convict Stephen Miller, Yusef Abdullahi and Anthony Paris – who were later acquitted.

Junior officers wrote up their version of events for witnesses to sign up to, Swansea crown court heard.

“The whole process was a team effort – was part of a conspiracy,” Mr Dean said.

Lynette, 20, was killed in a brothel in Cardiff on ­Valentine’s Day 1988.

All eight deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Ex-trial witnesses Violet Perriam, 61, and Ian Massey, 57, both deny perjury. The trial continues.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/07/08/police-boss-led-prostitute-murder-conspiracy-115875-23255515/

[HaveHope]

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/07/07/corrupt-detectives-in-lynette-white-case-forced-witnesses-to-agree-to-fictional-events-91466-29012892/

[Toth]

>  If there's any justice in this world....
There isn't.

I wonder if the cops who investigated the frame-up did so because those officers had been their bosses and had blocked their promotions or something.

[HaveHope]

13 police in court on corruption charges over Lynette White murder case  

Graham Mouncher retired chief inspector, at the time an inspector, 59
Thomas Page retired chief inspector, 62
Richard Powell retired supt, 58
John Seaford retired det constable, 62
Michael Daniels retired det con, 62
Peter Greenwood retired det con, 59
Paul Jennings retired det con, 51
Paul Stephen retired sergeant, 50
All the above deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Mr Mouncher also denies two counts of perjury  
Also in the dock............ Violet Perriam, 61, and Ian Massey, 57, deny two counts of perjury.


“Deeply corrupt” detectives forced witnesses to agree to fictional events over 20 days of evidence fabrication in the case of a murdered prostitute, a jury heard today.  “Inconvenient” people and facts were regularly dropped from the inquiry as detectives “fitted up” five men for murder, the police corruption trial at Swansea Crown Court was told.  Officers actively set out to “break” witnesses, using “threats, intimidation and fabrication,” it was claimed, resulting in three innocent men eventually being jailed for the brutal murder of south Wales prostitute Lynette White.  The 20-year-old, from Cardiff, was stabbed more than 50 times in a savage attack in a squalid flat in the city on St Valentine’s Day, 1988.  The killing triggered a major police murder hunt which, despite all efforts, went nowhere after nine months.  But in less than three weeks from November 22 1988, officers charged five men with murder.

More than two decades later, eight former officers are in the dock at Swansea Crown Court in the biggest police corruption trial in UK criminal history.

Thirteen former policemen are accused of colluding to create the fictional murder case against innocent men.

Eight of the original 13 officers are accused of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by agreeing to “mould, manipulate, influence and fabricate evidence”.

Four of the five other retired officers will be standing trial separately on an identical joint conspiracy charge next year.

The thirteenth defendant, who sufferers health problems, has been deemed unfit to stand trial.

[HaveHope]

>  If there's any justice in this world....

Toth replied.... There isn't.

> I have hope 

[HaveHope]

A taxi driver who detectives thought knew something about the murder of Lynette White was later warned "to keep his mouth shut," a jury heard today.

Jack Ellis had been named in statements the prosecution now argue to be false to have been outside 7 James Street, Cardiff, in the early hours of February 14, 1988, when Miss White was stabbed more than 50 times.

Also outside, it was alleged at the time, were members of the Cardiff Five, who would go on to be charged with her murder. Three would be wrongly convicted and jailed for life, only to be released in 1992 when the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions.

The prosecution allege that some officers who investigated the murder conspired to "frame" the Cardiff Five, and that at one stage believed that Mr Ellis had used his black cab to take them to or from 7 James Street.

Mr Ellis, who had known Miss White, has told Swansea crown court how he was put under pressure to admit he was there and to name the people in his Dixie Cars cab.

But, he stuck to his true account and refused to give in. He said he could remember the fares he had carried that night and he had not been in James Street.

Today, a statment by his then wife Diane was read to the jury by Nick Dean QC, who is leading the prosecution.

She said she remembered answering a knock on the door of the couple's home in Caerphilly.

A man she described as being about 5ft 10in tall, of mixed race, and with a "hard looking face," asked her if her husband was at home.

She replied "no".

He said: "It's about Cardiff."'

"I became worried and went to close the door," she told the court.

"The man put his foot into the doorway. I tried to close it but he pushed it open and it hit my face.

"He said, 'tell him to keep his mouth shut.'"

The then Mrs Ellis, who has since re-married, said she suffered a cut to the bridge of her nose and bruising to her left eye and forehead.

In a later statement, she said the man had used the words, "If he knows what is good for him he has seen nothing."

The prosecution say that Mr Ellis' refusal to change his story led to police "air brushing" out his taxi and getting witnesses to change their description of the vehicle to that of a "dark coloured Cortina", similar to one owned by Ronnie Actie, who would become one of the Cardiff Five.

It is alleged that the attempt to "brow beat" Mr Ellis was an example of how officers tried to manipulate witnesses into providing evidence that would support their theory about who killed Miss White.

But, 15 years later, DNA evidence would lead officers in an entirely different direction Jeffrey Gafoor admitted that he and he alone had murdered Miss White.

He said he had never heard of the Cardiff Five until reading about their arrests in December, 1988. He is now serving a life sentence.

Eight former police officers are accused of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Then Detective Inspector Graham Mouncher and two people who gave evidence are also charged with perjury.

They have all pleaded not guilty.

The trial continues.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/cardiffonline/cardiff-news/2011/08/12/lynette-white-corruption-trial-taxi-driver-was-told-by-detectives-to-keep-quiet-about-murder-91466-29225891/

[HaveHope]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-15262649 

[HaveHope]

The UK's biggest trial of ex-police officers has collapsed after a judge said they could not get a fair hearing.

"The destruction of those copies, along with the non-recording of the destruction, meant that it would be impossible to give meaningful re-assurances that no other material had been treated similarly, thus undermining the defence's confidence in the disclosure process.

"Given the stage reached in the proceedings, the correct course of action is to offer no evidence, thus inviting verdicts of not guilty and ending the trial."


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-15981541

[HaveHope]

Britain's top prosecutor has expressed extreme concern after the collapse of a police corruption trial over the wrongful conviction of three men for the murder of prostitute Lynette White.

Trial judge Justice Sweeney discharged the jury at Swansea Crown Court after ruling that the eight accused former police officers could not get a fair trial. The eight were jointly charged along with two civilians in the biggest trial of its kind involving former police officers in UK criminal history.

But Simon Clements, the Crown Prosecution Service's reviewing lawyer, said the case collapsed after a review discovered that files had been destroyed.

Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer QC has been notified and is "extremely concerned" about the outcome, the CPS said.

The officers were alleged to have colluded to pervert the course of justice, leading to the jailing of three innocent men. Prostitute Miss White, 20, was stabbed more than 50 times at her flat in the docks area of Cardiff in 1988.

Mr Clements said prosecutors were satisfied before the trial that "this was a case which should go before a jury".

He said: "However, at the request of the judge on 28 November, a review by the prosecution of a certain section of the unused material has uncovered that some copies of files, originally reviewed but not considered discloseable at that time, were missing. This information related to complaints made by one of the original defendants to the IPCC and another complaint relating to the investigation.

"On inquiry, it was found that these copies had been destroyed and no record of the reason for their destruction had been made by the police officers concerned. This was the first time that prosecution counsel or the CPS had been made aware of this destruction

"Although this relates to copies and not original files, it is now impossible to say for certain whether the copy was in fact exactly the same material that had been provided by the IPCC, reviewed and then destroyed. The destruction of those copies, along with the non-recording of the destruction, meant that it would be impossible to give meaningful re-assurances that no other material had been treated similarly, thus undermining the defence's confidence in the disclosure process.

"Given the stage reached in the proceedings, the correct course of action is to offer no evidence, thus inviting verdicts of not guilty and ending the trial."

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/12/01/police-corruption-trial-lynette-white-collapse_n_1122803.html

[nugnug]

it dosent usually stop a case being heard.