Previous Rough Justice Cases
A summary of previous Rough Justice Cases
1 The case of the handful of hair 7/4/82 (Update: Verdict safe, 22/3/84)
The victim, Jane Bigwood, an art student at Goldsmith’s College, was murdered in 1976. Her corpse was found with strands of the murderer’s hair in its grasp, hair which was not Jock Russell’s, the man who was convicted of her killing. This was known at trial, but the jury ignored it. Rough Justice revealed that another suspect, a Hungarian vagrant called Mick Molnar had access to the murder weapon, had no alibi (unlike Jock Russell), and had hair that fitted the description of the hair found in Bigwood’s grasp.
Russell’s conviction was quashed in 1983.
Reporter Martin Young. Producer Peter Hill.
2 The case of the bladed knife 14/4/82
The victim, Francis McDonagh was stabbed in 1973. The Crown alleged that his brother Michael killed him, and that his nephew Patrick was also involved. The knife that killed Francis was never found, but Rough Justice uncovered evidence that it had been seen that night in the hands of another man, a man who subsequently confessed to two people that he was the murderer.
Reporter Martin Young. Producer Peter Hill.
3 Little boy blue 21/4/82
A woman was indecently assaulted in a train carriage. This was primarily a case of identification. Witnesses described the assailant at the time as being different from the man convicted of the assaults, John Walters. They were never called at court, and when Rough Justice described Walters man to them, they said that it couldn’t have been the same man. The programme also uncovered a witness to support Walter’s alibi.
Reporter Martin Young. Producer Peter Hill.
4 The case of the confused chemicals 2/11/83
The dismembered body of a young girl was found in a petrol tank on the docks at South Shields in 1979. Her body had been there for nine years. Ernie Clarke was convicted of her murder on crucial forensic evidence relating to a jumper. Rough Justice re-analysed the evidence, and a forensic scientist concluded that the jumper had nothing at all to do with the murder.
Clarke’s case was referred back to the Court of Appeal, who in Feb 1986 rejected his appeal.
Producer Peter Hill, Reporter Martin Young.
5 The case of the missing meal 9/11/83
George Beattie was convicted in 1973 of the murder for Margaret McLaughlin in a Scottish glen. She had been stabbed repeatedly. George told the police that he had been witness to the murder and described the events in detail. He never confessed. Rough Justice revealed new evidence that Beattie had no time to commit the murder, that he had no motive, and that the girl died much later that night, long after Beattie had left the glen.
Reporter Martin Young, Producer Peter Hill
6 The case of the tortured teenager 9/11/83
Margaret Livesey was convicted in 1979 of the murder of her 14 year old son, Alan. Rough Justice discovered that Mrs Livesey didn’t have time to commit the murder, that several witnesses changed their accounts of events on the night of the murder, and that forensic evidence suggests that the boy might have died in a bizarre torture game that could have involved a male attacker.
Reporter Martin Young, Producer Peter Hill.
7 The case of the false fish 19/9/85
Anthony Steel was convicted in 1979 for the murder of Carol Wilkinson in Bradford. Rough Justice uncovered new evidence concerning a key ring in the shape of a fish which was supposed to belong to Carol, and about her route to work on the morning of the murder. Both show that Steel made a false confession and is an innocent man.
Producer Peter Hill, Reporter Martin Young.
8 The case of the tell-tale tape 26/9/85
Murder of a mother-in-law. Alf Fox was convicted in 1981. Rough Justice discovered evidence relating to a suspicious car and the fire. The programme also talked to witnesses who supported Fox’s alibi. A crucial piece of evidence against Alf was the tape used to tie up the victim: the programme concluded that it hadn’t come from the source the prosecution had suggested, and consequently didn’t link Alf to the crime.
Case referred to the Court of Appeal.
Producer Peter Hill, Reporter Martin Young.
9 The case of the perfect proof 3/10/85
Robbery with violence. Anthony Mycock was convicted of a burglary on identification evidence which the programme undermined, and tracked down the prosecution’s key witness, who said that the burglary never actually happened. Mycock’s conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal on 5/12/85
Reporter Martin Young, Producer Peter Hill.
10 A confession to the impossible 7/9/87
Bill Funnell confessed to strangling his wife. Rough Justice analysed the confession, and found that Funnell couldn’t have done what he said he did: the injuries to the victim didn’t add up, there wasn’t enough blood at the scene. And during the time he said he’d been killing his wife, his neighbour said he was talking over the garden fence – Rough Justice found a witness to corroborate this story.
Reporter David Jessel, Producer John Smithson.
11 When lightning strikes thrice 30/9/87 (update An inquiry under question 28/3/91)
Steven Spencer, the subject, died in June 2000, and his wife is continuing the campaign to clear his name. It was an ID case. Spencer created a distinct impression: he was tall, lanky, and had ginger hair and a broken nose. None of the witnesses to the armed robbery for which he was convicted mentioned this, and you’d have thought it’d be the sort of thing that would stick in their mind... The programme criticised identity parades.
Producer John Smithson (update Steven Spencer), Reporter David Jessel
12 Evidence in camera 17/12/87 (Update 12/3/89)
Ernest Barry was convicted of an armed robbery, yet video-enhancement of the building society footage illustrates rather persuasively that Barry wasn’t the robber.
Conviction quashed in 1989.
Producer John Smithson, Reporter David Jessel.
13 A convenient conviction 25/1/89 (Update 15/7/92)
Two homeless men, Paul and Wayne Darvell, were convicted of rape and murder of the manageress of a sex-shop. Wayne Darvell told the police that he’d seen his brother Paul carry out the killing. Rough Justice establishes alibi witnesses, though hesitantly as some sightings are only fleeting glimpses. Rough Justice also uncovered that Wayne Darvell had a history of confessing to things he hadn’t done: a robbery, for example, in which the police found it was impossible for the Darvells to have been involved. A psychiatrist agreed that Darvell readily confessed to things he hadn’t done.
Convictions quashed 1992.
Producer Stephen Phelps (update Charles Hunter), Reporter David Jessel.
14 Suspect premises 4/4/90
A Swedish tourist was raped in a mini-cab office. She said it was a place called “DSP”. The only driver on duty at the time she was raped was Sammy Davis. So Davis was convicted. The programme, by investigating inconsistencies in the victim’s account, argues that she can’t have been raped at DSP, and so Sammy Davis can’t have been her attacker.
Referred back to the Court of Appeal, where the appeal was dismissed.
Producer Stephen Haywood, Reporter David Jessel.
15 Who was that masked man? 4/4/91
Robert Campbell was convicted of a violent burglary. He made an incriminating comment to the police, and was identified by the victim of the burglary on an ID parade. Rough Justice interviewed people who supported Campbell’s alibi, and showed that the ID parade was flawed – Campbell was the only one on the parade wearing a black leather jacket, a jacket said to have been worn by one of the men who committed the burglary. In other words, he was signposted. This was in breach of the rules regulating how to conduct fair ID parades. The programme also interviewed two men who claimed to have been on the burglary, who said that Campbell wasn’t involved.
Producer Joanna Clinton Davis, Reporter David Jessel Exec Paul Hamman
16 The Curious case of Baby Glen 5/11/91
The post-mortem said that Baby Glen died from cot death. Three years later his mother was sentenced to life for his murder. Jaqueline Fletcher was convicted because she said to her landlady that she’d drowned Glen, and repeated this confession in a police interview. These interviews were inadequately recorded (they took six hours, but only 2000 words were recorded – a ten-minute news bulletin). And the confession was full of holes: the way she described killing the baby to the police was physically impossible (there wasn’t enough water in the bath to do it the way she said she’d done it), and it didn’t correctly describe how infants react when immersed in water. More questions about the reliability of the interview were raised when the programme showed that Fletcher had the intellectual functioning of a 10 year old child. To cap all this off, the prosecution doctor who challenged the original post-mortem, and raised the prospect of Baby Glen’s being drowned, changed his opinion while being interviewed for the programme by David Jessel.
Conviction quashed in 1992.
Reporter David Jessel, Producer Steve Haywood.
17 The Borden baseball bat murder 21/5/92 (update 1 “True confessions 2/6/94, update 2 14/12/95)
During a gang fight, a man was clubbed to death with a baseball bat. Dave Smith confessed to the killing. But Sam Hill was found guilty of it. Five witnesses told Rough Justice saying that they’d heard Dave Smith confess to the killing, including Smith’s solicitor. A key part of the alleged confession was that Hill said that the victim had been hit twice – Rough Justice was told by a pathologist that he’d only been hit once. An update was made after the first Court of Appeal hearing in 1993 criticising the CA’s judgement. A further update was made in 1995 when the final appeal succeeded.
Conviction quashed 1995.
Reporter David Jessel, Producer Steve Haywood (Update 1 Producer Charles Hunter, Reporter John Ware. Update 2 Producer Dinah Lord, Reporter David Jessel)
18 Murder in mind 1/4/93
Two British army corporals drove into a funeral of an IRA man. One produced a gun. They were taken from their car, beaten, and shot on a patch of wasteland. Pat Kane was convicted of being a party to the murder, because he confessed to the police, and because of army helicopter footage of the attack, which showed him as being present at the affray. Rough Justice revealed that Kane had the intellectual ability of an 11 year old, and a psychiatrist said he had probably partially lost control of his actions to the mob: “de-individuation”. And the programme told of a major inconsistency in the prosecution’s evidence: the person identified in the heli-tele as Kane acts differently from how Kane described his actions in his statement to the police.
Conviction quashed 20/6/97
Producer Charles Hunter, Reporter John Ware.
19 Word for word 14/7/93
Ransford Nedrick is an outcast, the self-confessed killer of a young boy. When detectives produced what they said was a signed verbatim confession to arson and murder, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. But nine years after the Wolverhampton house fire in which 12-year old Lloyd Hume died, Rough Justice uncovered new evidence on the veracity of his confession. It was in perfect English. Nedrick is a dyslexic who speaks largely in Jamaican creole. The confession was analysed by forensic linguists who concluded that it was fatally flawed.
Appeal dismissed by the Court of Appeal in January 1997
Producer Charles Hunter, Reporter John Ware.
20 Code of silence 26/1/94 (update tx 25/8/94)
John Megson was the long-haired leather-clad vice president of the Druids, an outlaw biker club. In 1990 he stood trial for stabbing to death a young man in Scarborough. His fellow bikers knew he had not done it. But he stayed silent in court and was convicted. He refused to break the Druid’s strict code of honour by naming the real killer. Rough Justice found one woman, brave enough to speak out, who witnessed the killing and named two other men who actually committed the crime.
Conviction quashed, but convicted of manslaughter on a re-trial. The programme implicated others in the murder, who were tried
Producer Charles Hunter, Reporter John Ware
21 Death in the playground 3/5/95
The toddler Carl Kennedy was beaten to death just before his fourth birthday. Paul Esslemont was convicted of his murder. He had spots of Carl’s blood on his clothes and golf club. Rough Justice established that Esslemont didn’t have the characteristic personality of a child killer And that no proper mapping of the blood stains was made of the area where Carl’s body was found. A blood splattering test was commissioned. Testing was also done of whether Esslemont could have picked up the blood stains searching the undergrowth for Carl’s body – something he did with a police officer early on the day Carl died. And a senior forensic scientist concluded that the golf club couldn’t have been the murder weapon.
Conviction quashed 4/7/97
Producer Ed Braman, Reporter John Ware.
22 The usual suspect 12/3/96
An armed robbery of a building society. Paul Berry looked like the photofit, and a prison grass said he’d heard Berry confess. A witness Rough Justice spoke to said Berry didn’t look like the robber, and another didn’t mention Berry’s extreme height, which an expert said ought to have been mentioned. Various breaches of PACE were highlighted. The prison grass was checked out and a witness said he was a liar.
Producer Ed Braman, Reporter John Ware
23 Who killed Carl Bridgewater 10/4/96 (update 30/7/97)
The newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater was found sitting on a sofa at Yew Tree Farm in 1978. He’d been shot dead. Vincent Hickey, Michael Hickey and James Robinson were found guilty of his murder because a fourth man, Pat Molloy told the police that the four of them had been involved in an armed robbery that went wrong. Molloy was convicted of manslaughter and died in prison, protesting to his death that his confession was false and had been forced out of him. One of the officers who took the confession had a history of falsifying evidence and violence. Molloy’s confession was subjected to forensic examination. Rough Justice interviewed, for the first time, the main suspect. The programme also highlighted the two unidentified fingerprints found on Carl’s bike, prints that didn’t belong to any of the Bridgewater Four, evidence the prosecution didn’t disclose at two appeals.
Conviction quashed 24/2/97
Producer Dinah Lord, Reporter John Ware (update Producer Dinah Lord, no reporter)
24 The vet’s wife 26/11/96
The vet Ryan James was convicted of the murder of his wife Sandra, by injecting her with a horse sedative. Rough Justice uncovered evidence to suggest that Sandra took her own life. The programme challenged some aspects of the prosecution’s forensic evidence, shows that Sandra did have access to the drugs that killed her, exposed omissions in the police investigation and reveals a suicide note written by Sandra James before her death.
Conviction quashed July 1988.
Producer Dinah Lord, Reporter John Ware
25 Murder at the studio 1/4/97
On Christmas Eve 1989, 19 year old Penny Lain was glassed to death in a club in Newcastle. Another clubber, Stephen Craven, immediately attracted the police’s suspicion when he fled to America two days later. He’d cut his finger that night, and he gave a false name and address to the hospital where he had it treated. Rough Justice uncovered that the police didn’t disclose that the murder weapon had someone else’s fingerprint on it.
Conviction referred back to the Court of Appeal by the CCRC.
Producer Dinah Lord, Reporter John Ware
26 M25 murder 25/3/98
Just before Christmas in 1988, a man was murdered and a string of houses burgled in the south London commuter belt. Three men, Raphael Rowe, Michael Davis and Randolph Johnson were convicted of these offences. Rough Justice discovered that one of the key prosecution witnesses was a police informer, and that he’d been paid reward money both before and after giving his evidence.
Conviction referred back to the Court of Appeal by the CCRC. Heard in June 2000.
Producer Dinah Lord, Presenter Kirsty Wark
27 The jigsaw murder 2.6.98
In 1974, the dismembered parts of a male corpse began to be washed up on the banks of the Thames. A year later, another body was found in a shallow grave in a wood in Hertfordshire. The police linked the two murders, and in 1977 after the longest ever criminal trial, Reg Dudley and Bob Maynard were sentenced to life imprisonment. Rough Justice showed how both men were convicted on the basis of confessions that would never be accepted in court today, and heard from the main prosecution witness who admitted to fabricating his crucial evidence.
Referred to the Court of Appeal by the CCRC
Producer Dinah Lord, Presenter Kirsty Wark
28 The price of friendship 2/6/99
In March 1976, two men stood trial for the brutal murder of a gay hairdresser. Martin O’Halloran said he was nowhere near the scene of the crime, but was found guilty and sentenced to life. His co-defendant, Langford, admitted to him in a series of letters that he’d lied in his evidence to the court, and that O’Halloran was an innocent man.
Under consideration by the CCRC