The Crown Prosecution Service's Special Crime Division announced that there is sufficient evidence for three serving police officers, Police Constable John Murray, who was with CID at the relevant time, Detective Sergeant (DS) Paul Stephen and Detective Constable (DC) Paul Jennings to face trial for Conspiracy to Pervert the Course of Justice and False Imprisonment and Misconduct in a Public Office over the ill-fated inquiry inquiry into the horrific murder of Lynette White that occurred on Valentine's Day 1988. Wayne Pugh, a Detective Constable at the time retired at the rank but worked as a South Wales Police staff member until his arrest. He faces the same charges along with retired officers, DCs Rachel O'Brien: Michael, Daniels, John Bryan Gillard, John Seaford, Peter Greenwood, DS Stephen Hicks and Detective Inspectors Thomas Page, Richard Powell and Graham Mouncher. Civilian witnesses Ian Massey and Violet Perriam will face trial for perjury as well in relation to the investigation into the 1988 murder of Lynette White and subsequent trials in 1989 and 1990.

John Actie and his cousin Ronnie stood trial along with Yusef Abdullahi, Stephen Miller and Tony Paris for the crime that Jeffrey Gafoor admitted he had committed alone, pleading guilty in July 2003. “Our lives have been utterly destroyed by being branded brutal murderers,” said a statement issued on their behalf by lawyers for the Cardiff Five. The conduct of the original inquiry was reviewed by South Wales Police, which delivered a file to the CPS in 2005. Three years later Mark Grommek, Angela Psaila and Learnne Vilday were jailed for perjury at the committal hearing and two trials. After those verdicts SCD lawyers reviewed the evidence that officers had moulded, manipulated and fabricated evidence against the original defendants. Yesterday the SDC announced that there was sufficient evidence for the 13 serving or former police to face trial along with the two witnesses.

“At the forefront of our thoughts is Lynette White who was brutally murdered on February 14th 1988,” said Assistant Chief Constable Colette Paul, who took over from Stephen Cahill last December. Cahill continued to act as Director of the case despite his promotion to Deputy Chief Constable when he joined the Home Office's Police Standards Unit in 2005. “It is now just over 21 years since Lynette died, and her family have endured a great deal of heartache. Officers from the Reinvestigation Team continue to provide guidance and support to her family. Furthermore, we must remember the victims of the miscarriage of justice. Ronald and John Actie who both stood trial twice for a crime they did not commit and Yusef Abdullahi, Stephen Miller and Anthony Paris who were wrongly convicted of Lynette's murder at the conclusion of the second trial. The serving of summonses marks another crucial phase in this Investigative and Prosecution process, which has seen a total of 34 people arrested, including 15 retired police officers and 5 serving police officers and three individuals convicted of perjury and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.”

The investigation was headed by Detective Chief Superintendent Chris Coutts and was supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) from August 2004. “It is important for South Wales Police and the people they serve that this miscarriage of justice was properly dealt with,” said the IPCC's Commissioner for Wales Tom Davies. “It is vitally important for public confidence in the police service and complaints process that the full story of this reinvestigation is told in public. The trial of these 15 people will enable that happen. I am satisfied that this has been thoroughly investigated and the matter has now passed to the judicial process. It would be inappropriate to comment further.” The trial is expected to begin next year.

by Derek Miller © Derek Miller (March 4th 2009)