Just over eighteen years ago the late Mr Justice (John) Leonard had the misfortune of sentencing three innocent men to life imprisonment. Some observers believed it was significant that he refrained from using the usual emotive language when passing sentence on Yusef Abdullahi, Stephen Miller and Tony Paris. After the longest murder trial in British history they were convicted of the murder of Lynette White, which occurred in the early hours of Valentine's Day 1988. At that time it was the most brutal crime of its type in Welsh history. White had been stabbed more than fifty times. Her throat had been slit from ear to ear. Her wrists had been slashed too and the attack had sexual overtones to it. It was on every level a bestial crime, complicated by the way she made her living.

Regardless of their innocence, tariffs – the minimum that must be served – had to be set. Back in 1990 the trial judge set out the amount that he or she believed should be served and that was then considered by the Lord Chief Justice, who could change that figure. Finally the Home Secretary had the ultimate power to determine the precise amount that would be served. The Cardiff Three received terms that reflected the brutality of the crime. Ironically they were longer than the tariff that was imposed on Gafoor.

More than two years after Gafoor finally took responsibility for murdering Lynette White, Mr Justice Royce gave his reasons for the tariff that he imposed – one that is widely viewed as an insult to justice, even though Royce cannot be blamed. While Gafoor enjoyed his ill-deserved freedom, the system of imposing tariffs changed. A decision in the European Court of Human Rights took the power to determine them away from the Home Secretary, yet bizarrely a decision that was supposed to give greater freedom to judges placed greater restraints on them.