The statements that proved this were disclosed to Miller's defence and gathered dust in the unused material. It was consistent with only one interpretation. Miller was and remains an entirely innocent man who was let down appallingly by the criminal justice system. Sadly that includes by professional lawyers that he trusted with his future twice. Twenty years later he still has nightmares about it. He began a life sentence declaring his innocence. Some believed him, but most didn't and they were wholly wrong. Miller was innocent then as now. Any impartial review of the evidence, even back then, led inexorably to that conclusion.

*****

Meanwhile, Elfer savoured his victory. Frisby's poor choice of tactic regarding the confession had helped him considerably. Elfer had persuaded the jury to accept Miller's confession and worse still that he was not suggestible or vulnerable. The criminal justice system had allowed a highly vulnerable young man to be bullied into making an utterly false confession. He had then been let down miserably by those he put his trust in and the entire system got away with denying his vulnerabilities to convict not just him falsely, but Yusef Abdullahi and Tony Paris as well. Elfer's victory – aided and abetted by Frisby's poor performance – had set back understanding of such vulnerabilities and with it the cause of justice. It could have been for several years. Thankfully, the diligence of the renowned solicitor Gareth Peirce and the superb performance of Michael Mansfield QC and Nicholas Blake in one of his last cases before taking silk (becoming a Queen's Counsel) redressed this comparatively quickly.

The law and criminal justice system would eventually move on and Stephen Miller's case would play an important part in that, but his was neither the first nor last where a highly vulnerable 'suspect' slipped through the safeguards – some of which would later be credited with helping to correct the miscarriage of justice. In our view the safeguards, some professionals upon whom the system depends daily and the criminal justice system performed abysmally in this case and can take no credit at all for correcting a miscarriage of justice that should have been prevented. It is a frightening thought that if Miller had not been able to prove his innocence, a particularly brutal killer would still be at large and vulnerable people would be targeted and wrongfully convicted with impunity. It was Miller's good fortune that this case was a high profile miscarriage of justice at a time when that could make a difference and that his conviction, which was secured by ambush, was not tolerated.

by Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (December 29th 2008)