The second of our series examines a community's concern over three men's convictions for the grisly murder of a prostitute
Duncan Campbell and Satish Sekar


The run-down flat in Bute Town, Cardiff, where prostitute Lynette White was stabbed to death on Valentine's Day 1988, has been repapered and recarpeted and is inhabited now by a relative of one of the men serving life for her murder.

For Carlton Queeley it is not a permanent home, just a sleeping-bag on a couch, but he plans to stay there until, he hopes, he has helped to prove the innocence of his cousin, Tony Parris, and the two other convicted men, Yusef Abdullahi and Steve Miller.

The case of the men, known as the Cardiff Three , has aroused strong emotions in the tightly-knit community. Now new evidence has emerged which their lawyers believe offers further grounds for appeal against their convictions.

Mr Abdullahi, aged 29, Mr Miller, aged 24, and Mr Parris, aged 33, were convicted of the murder of Ms White at Swansea last November after Britain's longest murder trial.

Ms White was a white prostitute who was about to give evidence for the prosecution in two trials. She was murdered in the early hours of February 14, 1988. At first the only evidence was that a dark-haired white man with blood-stained and cut hands had been seen in a distressed state near her flat shortly after her murder.

Nine months later the investigation changed tack. Eight people, seven of them black, were arrested. All were tested for blood found at the scene of the murder but with no positive result. Three were released.

The other five were charged. Mr Abdullahi, Mr Miller, Mr Parris and two cousins, Ronald and John Actie, appeared in court last May. All were known to the police.

The main evidence against them was that of two prostitutes, Angela Psalia and Leanne Vilday. Ms Psalia claimed she had been forced by the five to participate in a grisly ritual of slashing the victim's body. She said she had not informed the police for fear of reprisals.

Mr Psalia was in custody for 42 hours before making her statement. Ms Vilday backed up her story. The judge, Mr Justice Leonard, warned the jury that both were proven liars.

The Guardian has seen copies of both women's various statements to the police. In a statement dated May 23, Ms Psalia tells how she heard news of the murder: 'Leanne said she and a man named Eddy had gone to the flat and one of them had gone to the police who then kicked the door open.' Yet by the time of the trial Ms Psalia was saying she had seen all five men take part in the stabbing.

There is also a tape of Ms Psalia made clandestinely by her then boyfriend, in which she again changes her story. Ms Vilday's statements show similar discrepancies.

This left three other main strands: Steve 'Pineapple' Miller, the victim's boyfriend and pimp, made a statement in which he admits being there. Mr Miller, from Brixton, south London, later withdrew this, saying it was his 19th statement and was made under duress.

Second, a prison informer, Ian Massey, claimed Mr Parris had confessed to him. Mr Parris agrees he showed Mr Massey the case against him in Cardiff prison. But he denies any admission.

Third, Jacqui Harris, the former girlfriend of Mr Abdullahi, said that during a row he had threatened to 'do a Lynette White' on her. She has since written to Mr Abdullahi's brother saying she had made this up to hurt Mr Abdullahi. Six letters to this effect were produced at the trial.

There are other factors which the men's supporters claim point to their innocence: the DNA evidence links none of them to blood other than Ms White's found in the flat. Also, Mr Abdullahi had an alibi placing him on a ship eight miles away. Thirteen witnesses, some of whom did not know him previously, backed this story.

Mr Parris had witnesses that he was collecting glasses at Bute Town's now defunct Casablanca nightclub. Peter Scott, who ran it, is adamant he was there that night.

This week it has emerged that a number of alibi witness statements to which the defence were entitled were not given to them before the trial. These have now been forwarded to Mr Abdullahi's solicitor, by the Crown Prosecution Service who have said further statements will be made available.

Three weeks after the convictions, a young shipping clerk, Geraldine Palk, was murdered in the Fairwater district of Cardiff, two miles from Bute Town. She had been stabbed 83 times and, as with Ms White, there were deep slash wounds to her chest, throat and wrists.

'The Birmingham Six showed what can happen,' said Malik Abdullahi, the convicted man's brother. 'But we don't want them to have to wait that long.'
South Wales police have no comment while an appeal is pending.