Missing documents which caused the collapse of a multi-million pound police corruption trial have been discovered by investigators - despite claims they were shredded. Ten people, including eight former police officers, were accused of fabricating a case which led to the wrongful jailing of three innocent men for the 1988 murder of prostitute Lynette White. All were acquitted last month after Swansea Crown Court heard that a top cold-case detective at South Wales Police (SWP) had ordered the destruction of files containing evidence relating to the case. Mr Justice Sweeney discharged the jury telling them the accused could not get a fair trial. However, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which is investigating the collapse, on Thursday revealed the missing files had been found in the hands of SWP. The revelation prompted Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, to order an independent probe into the disclosure exercise conducted by prosecutors involved in the case. Stephen Miller, who was wrongly jailed for the murder, reacted angrily to the development describing it as "ridiculous". He told the Independent: "There has to be a public inquiry. Some of my co-accused have now passed away - where is the justice for them?" IPCC commissioner Sarah Green confirmed documents that the Lynette White trial was told may have been destroyed had been discovered, "and were not shredded as first thought". She said: "The court was told that some inquiries had been made about documents relating to complaints made to the IPCC itself and that it seemed that these documents may have been shredded on the orders of SWP senior investigating officer Chris Coutts. The documents were found in the original boxes that the IPCC had sent those files to SWP as part of the trial disclosure process in 2009. These boxes were still in the possession of SWP and have subsequently been verified." The IPCC said its ongoing investigation would seek to establish what happened to the two files of documents, while liaising with officals from the Crown Prosecution Service. Miss White's body was found with more than 50 stab wounds. Detectives arrested Mr Miller, Yusef Abdullahi, Tony Paris and cousins Ronnie and John Actie for murder. The cousins were cleared but the three other men went on to serve two years in prison before being released on appeal. Mr Abdullahi, 49, died last year. In 2003, Jeffrey Gafoor, a client of Miss White, admitted murdering her and is now serving life behind bars.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
NO ADVERTISING ACCEPTED ON COMMENTS