Michael Stone, now aged 40, was convicted in 1998 of the murder of Lin Russell
and her daughter Megan, and the attempted murder of her other daughter, Josie,
and sentenced to three terms of life imprisonment.
All three were were victims of a terrible assault in a country lane near
Canterbury, Kent, when they were attacked by an assailant wielding a hammer, on
their way home from school.
Stone has always protested his innocence but was convicted on the evidence of
Barry Thompson, himself a convicted criminal, and, as is now alleged, a police
informant.
Thompson claimed that he had been threatened by Stone whilst he was on remand.
Stone's alleged threat, that, "he wouldn't be as lucky as Josie" - a clear
reference to the girl who was left for dead, but later, almost miraculously,
recovered - was taken as evidence, almost a confession, that Stone had indeed
committed the crime.
This was the only evidence against Stone, and the Judge at the time directed
the jury that if they believed Thompson then they would have to convict, if
they didn't, then Stone would be a free man. The jury chose to believe
Thompson.
But, within days of the trial, Thompson admitted to the Mirror newspaper that
he had completely fabricated his story, and had told a pack of lies in court.
Now, over 12 years later, that admission has cast doubt upon the reliability
of the evidence. The Court of Appeal found that the conviction was unsafe
and it was quashed, but did not free Stone immediately.
The Court had two choices; release or a re-trial. Surprisingly, they have opted
for a re-trial, although it is hard to understand why, given the original
Judge's clear opinion that Stone's guilt rested upon the truthfulness of
Thompson's testimony alone.
The three Appeal Judges failed to give an explanation for permitting a re-trial,
only saying that they would reveal their reasoning at a later date.
They rejected the defence counsel's claim that it would be impossible to
conduct a fair hearing, given all the negative publicity surrounding this case.
I would be incredulous though, if they were to have taken the argument of the
prosecution lawyer, at face value, when he claimed that any jury in England
was able to be directed by a judge to disregard what they had seen on the
television or read in the press.
Or read on a web page I should imagine.
If any Judge is able to conclusively demonstrate his ability to get a jury to
disregard the fact that the Earth is not flat, and who under questioning for
an hour or so, will not burst out laughing whilst having to argue that ships
fall off, over the edge; I will believe the prosecution's claim.
No application was made for bail, and Stone will be remanded, pending his trial
which is unlikely to be before September.
Stone's sister, Barbara, was "thrilled" that the conviction was quashed but
was restrained in her celebrations, as Michael faces another wait to clear his
name.
Kent Police have refused to comment upon the case.
Stephen Downing
Somewhat overshadowed by the Stone appeal, the case of Stephen Downing has not
received as much publicity as it should have.
Whilst the Appeal Judges were deliberating on what to do with Stone, Downing,
convicted 27 years ago, was freed on bail, another statistic of innocence
wrongly convicted.
Downing was just 17 when he was charged with murdering Wendy Sewell, a 32 year
old typist, in the graveyard of a Bakewell church where he worked as a
groundsman.
When Sewell was found savagely beaten and partially clothed, Downing, with a
mental age of just 11, was the prime suspect, but from the time Sewell was
discovered the case has had an air of surreality about it.
Downing claims he was the first to find her and struggled desperately to help
her before alerting other people to what had happened.
When a policeman arrived upon the scene, Sewell was still conscious. The
policeman failed to call an ambulance and left her to get to her feet and
stagger around before collapsing and hitting her head on a gravestone.
Wendy Sewell died later, without revealing the identity of her attacker.
Downing was taken into custody where he faced nine hours of interrogation
without the benefit of having a solicitor present.
Downing had traces of blood on his clothing and, as a groundsman, had access
to the type of murder weapon which had been discovered; a pickaxe handle.
Finally he agreed to sign a confession that he had attacked Sewell, and,
following her death, was charged with her murder.
Downing later tried to retract the confession, but it was used as the primary
evidence in the case against him, and he was convicted in 1974.
He was sentenced to a minimum term of 17 years imprisonment, and could have been
released in 1991, if not earlier, however his refusal to admit to the murder has
made him ineligible for parole and has served an additional 10 years in prison.
His family and friends have always maintained his innocence, but it was not
until 1997 that enough new evidence was gathered to present a case to the
Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigates alleged miscarriages
of justice.
The new evidence seems compelling, and the Appeal Court obviously agrees;
witnesses have come forward who have contradicted the sequence of events
officially reported at the time.
One witness says she saw a man and a woman hugging each other just minutes
before Sewell was attacked, and doubts have been raised as to where the murder
weapon had come from. The pickaxe handle was unmarked, whilst all those which
Downing had access to were stamped with the name of the council for security
reasons.
Downing is looking forward to returning to a world he last saw on a day release
in 1994. He is hoping to buy a mobile phone; just one of the things which
didn't exist before his committal.
How a man, who has spent almost three decades, his whole adult life, in prison
will feel once the euphoria of his freedom wears off remains to be seen.
George Kelly
George Kelly does not have such a bright future to look forward to. He was
hanged in 1950 for the murder of a cinema manager and a cashier in Liverpool.
In the same week that Michael Stone's conviction was quashed, and Stephen
Downing was bailed, Kelly's case was referred to the Court of Appeal by the
Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Although there is no certainty that the appeal will see his conviction quashed,
the Review Commission has seen 50% of the convictions it has referred being
successfully overturned on Appeal.
It looks like Kelly may be this week's hat-trick of own goals from the great
British system of justice; allegedly the best in the world.
Whilst Kelly's co-defendant, pleaded guilty to a lessor charge of robbery and
conspiracy to commit robbery, arguably to save his own life, Kelly maintained
his innocence.
Convicted at Liverpool Assizes in February, 1950, Kelly was refused leave to
appeal and was hung before the end of March, his fate sealed in just one month.
His family, through the generations, have always maintained his innocence but,
like Downing's, had been unable to get the case re-opened until recently.
The family's solicitor, Robin Makin, said that they were pleased that the
case had been referred but wanted to retain their privacy.
"Justice is what this is about; an innocent man was hanged", is how he sums up
the case. "It's not the first and it probably won't be the last of this sort of
case getting referred back to the Court of Appeal," he concludes.
Unfortunately, he is almost certainly right.
