Investigating Miscarriages of Justice Thoroughly – Part Three

Safeguards:

Tony Paris had no reason to trust South Wales Police. He had been the victim of one of Britain’s worst miscarriages of justice, but they needed his help and that of his co-defendants. The investigation had been reopened. Resources had been thrown at it. South Wales Police wanted to achieve something no British police force had managed to do – find the real killer after a miscarriage of justice.

Superb scientific work had established the exit route of the killer from the flat over a decade after the murder. They had discovered the killer’s blood under paint. It preserved the DNA until a technique was developed that could extract the information detectives had been waiting for. Other exhibits queued up to tell their story.

Original exhibits including Lynette’s jeans and sock that had the murderer’s blood on them were retested using the then new technique SGM+ STR typing – there was no need for Low Copy Number techniques. Full DNA profiles were obtained from them. Detective Superintendent Kevin O’Neill and his team – Operation Mistral – had the killer’s DNA. They dubbed him Cellophane Man, due to a DNA profile that matched the others, which came from a blood-stained piece of cellophane.

Elimination and Encouragement:

To everybody’s surprise the real murderer’s DNA profile was not on the National DNA Database. Police were astonished as it meant that the real murderer had not committed a crime that allowed his DNA to be taken since DNA could be taken and stored. He had not even been arrested over a recordable offence since the law allowed DNA to be taken and stored regardless of convictions.

So what had happened? This was an incredibly brutal offence. History showed that such crimes tended to be committed by offenders that had built up to such ferocity during a violent criminal career. And once unleashed the bloodlust could not be contained – further murders were sure to follow, but that did not happen.

Cellophane Man was neither dead nor living abroad. He had simply taken crime investigation manuals and thrown them away. It required modern techniques to unmask him and a commitment to do so, knowing what it meant. Solving Lynette’s murder meant that sleeping dogs would not lie and that the greatest triumph South Wales Police ever had would also be their greatest disaster.

They believed that the real killer had stayed put in South Wales. Bizarrely they were right, but it would take fine work to unmask him and the assistance of the Cardiff Five. South Wales Police asked the Cardiff Five to agree to be DNA tested. If they agreed after all that they had been through how could others refuse? But first safeguards had to be agreed.

The Safeguards:

Tony Paris was the first to allow his DNA to be taken. The safeguards agreed to by South Wales Police were breathtaking. They show how keen they were to advertise such a good example. The Cardiff Five would not be arrested. They would not have to report to a police station. Police would come to their comfort zone – the office of a trusted solicitor. Media would be invited to observe and report Paris giving a buccal swab.

It was sealed and signed in his presence and that of his solicitor. He explained that he was giving his DNA to encourage others to do the same, knowing that he was innocent and these tests could only prove that again. Once it had been taken his solicitor accompanied the sample to the testing laboratory to witness it being signed in prior to testing. It was agreed that she could witness the testing and destruction of excess DNA if he so wished.

Police agreed to all of these safeguards. A blueprint for the taking of samples for DNA testing had been agreed by police that protected the rights of the innocent. The results proved that the Cardiff Five were as they had always insisted, completely innocent of any involvement in the brutal murder of Lynette White. They were entitled to a full apology then, but that was not forthcoming – yet.