You can read Part 1 here.
On December 10th, 1992, Yusef Abdullahi, Tony Paris, and Stephen Miller – The Cardiff Three – were released on appeal for the murder of Lynette White. This was a murder none of these men had committed, and yet they’d spent four unnecessary years in prison – time they will never get back. So, who did kill Lynette White?
On February 14th, 1988, Lynette White was found fully clothed, in a pool of blood, on the floor of flat one at 7 James Street in Cardiff. For months, the police hounded witnesses, looking for any clue as to the identity of the perpetrator. And what they did was falsely accuse five men, and falsely imprison three men for the murder. With their release, police were now back at square one – though they would never admit they’d made a mistake.
The release of the Cardiff Three shook the UK. Terry White, Lynette’s father, was so furious that he went so far as to threaten John Actie at his home with a firearm. Terry White was arrested, and given a suspended sentence. But the message was clear – the Cardiff Five were still under high suspicion, and would remain so unless the real murderer was apprehended.
At the time, the South Wales Police refused to re-open the case – even with pressure from the public at large, and from many prominent investigative journalists around the UK. As far as the police were concerned, the case was closed, and the right men had been prosecuted for the murder.
It wasn’t until the year 2000 that the topic of re-opening the inquiry was broached. Dave Barclay, a forensic scientist who headed a team at the National Crime Faculty, and Kevin O’Neil, a former Chief Superintendent for the South Wales Police, took it upon themselves to look at the case with fresh eyes – and fresh science. Major advances in forensic science could be used to re-test the evidence gathered from the murder scene. And these advances would determine, once and for all, who Lynette’s murderer was.
They re-examined everything from top to bottom, and found an unidentified palm print on the wallpaper of the flat, and blood under the window on the skirting board. Much of the evidence had been well-preserved and maintained its integrity for further testing. Barclay and O’Neil were convinced that they had enough evidence to get a full DNA profile. They were also convinced that this was the work of one killer – not five.
Both the South Wales Police, who still had members from the original investigation in the force, and the public were distrustful of the new inquiry. To ensure that everything was done properly, investigators hired an oversight board which consisted of an ethically diverse, multi-faith independent panel of civilians who would scrutinize and question every single part of the new inquiry. The goal was the same across the board – ensure that everything was done properly and correctly.
The inquiry even went the extra mile. Rather than use the police’s forensic lab, they sought the services of Forensic Alliance – an independent team of forensic scientists. Headed by Andrea Gallop, and consisting of a team of world renowned forensic analysts and scientists, the inquiry team were sure to come back with sound results.
After finding the forensic evidence as well-preserved as it was, investigators wanted to know what happened at flat one. Using crime scene photos, they re-built the scene in order to do a walk-through. Investigators quickly took note of a piece of cellophane that had yet to be tested, as well as a box of condoms. They noted that condoms themselves had previously been tested (they were all unused), but the box had not. They also took note that the inside of the door had been repainted with gloss paint, which preserved traces of blood that had been missed in the clean-up.
After gathering and testing the new evidence found, the results came back. The blood on the cellophane matched blood that had been found on the condom box, and both profiles matched the blood on the skirting board under the window. The killer now had a name – Cellophane Man.
By 2002, 13 separate sources of blood were used to complete a full DNA profile of Lynette White’s murderer – from her jeans, her sock, the communal doorway, the cardboard condom box, the cellophane, and from the walls of the flat’s living room and hallway. Investigators had an indication of what Lynette had suffered on that cold February night.
She was dragged across the carpet to where most of the attack took place, accounting for the pool of blood on the floor by the bed. In the process of the attack, the assailant cut his hand, leaving blood and hand prints behind as he stumbled his way out of the flat, and then again left blood behind while trying to find the catch to the front door of the building.
Investigators were frustrated to discover that Cellophane Man’s profile was not found among the original suspect list, nor was the DNA profile found on the more than 140 databases that police searched. One thing could be determined, though. The completed profile could be used to determine whether or not it matched The Cardiff Five.
Each man willingly gave a sample of their DNA to police, eager for the tests to come back. None of them were a match for the DNA profile found in the flat. The Cardiff Five were finally, finally fully exonerated on the grounds of DNA evidence.
The only thing left to do was to finally identify Cellophane Man.
Not gaining any matches for an exact profile, the investigators decided to go one step further in order to flush him out. They began looking at familial DNA similarities in the databases in order to find a familial connection to the killer.
Investigators found a familial DNA match to a 14 year-old boy who’d been arrested in Cardiff for joyriding. Digging deeper, investigators were led to the boy’s uncle, Jeffrey Gafoor.
On February 26th, 2003, investigators made their move. They found Gafoor and asked him for a voluntary DNA swap. He obliged willingly. Forensic testing confirmed that Gafoor’s DNA was a match. After 15 excruciating years, police had Lynette’s killer in their sights – a white man who bore a striking resemblance to the original photofit made based on witness description.
However, detectives didn’t want to charge in – they wanted to make sure that everything went right. In order to watch his movements, they placed a surveillance team on him. Gafoor had other plans. “Gafoor, once he realized he was a suspect, took an overdose of paracetamol.” Police rushed in and called an ambulance, but not before Gafoor was able to say: “Just for the record, I did kill Lynette White, I’ve been waiting for this for 15 years. Whatever happens, I deserve it. I sincerely hope I die.” His confessions didn’t end there. On the way to hospital, he told the paramedics: “This might be my last two days on earth. I’m quite looking forward to seeing if God or the devil exists.”
Unfortunately for him, Gafoor didn’t end up dying that night. As he began feeling sick in hospital, he agreed to take an antidote. Lynette’s killer would finally face justice.
At his hearing on July 4th, 2003, Gafoor plead guilty to the charge of murder. Through his barrister, he wanted the public to know that he was sorry and ashamed for his actions. He also made sure to inform the courts and the public that The Cardiff Five had nothing to do with the murder – it was all his own doing.
Gafoor was sentenced to life, with a minimum of 12 years and 8 months – which was a far more lenient sentence than those passed on Tony Paris and Yusef Abdullahi.
For a long time, Gafoor was uncooperative. He refused to answer police questions, and he even tried to play word and mind games with his own legal team, for no discernible reason. He must have had enough of that after a time. In a later court date, he began to tell the story of what happened the night of Lynette’s murder.
They fought over £30. Gafoor had hired Lynette, but then changed his mind. He wanted his money back, and she wasn’t willing to give it back. They argued, and Gafoor brandished a knife, intending to scare her into returning the money. They grappled for the knife, but Gafoor had the upper hand, slashing and cutting her as they fought. During the fight, Lynette was killed and Gafoor cut his hands. “It was a struggle. A chaotic struggle. I lost it. I wanted to make absolutely sure she was dead.”
Gafoor then sat there for a while, he wasn’t sure for how long, and then he left the flat, stumbling as he went. He was out of sorts. He didn’t remember how long it took him, but he eventually made it home, where he bandaged his hands with plasters. He mentioned that he’d done a poor job – he still had the scars on his hands.
After that night, Gafoor led the life of a vagabond. He jumped from place to place, from job to job, until he found steady work. At the time of his arrest, Gafoor had been living a reclusive, isolated existence in a house that was paid for by his job as a security guard in an office block in Cardiff City Centre.
The re-opened inquiry had answered everyone’s questions. Lynette’s killer was service a life sentence, and the Cardiff Five had been exonerated. But all was not well. The members of the original investigation refused to believe they’d made a mistake – they vehemently doubled down on their stance that the Five were responsible. They ignored logic and evidence. They refused to admit that they’d framed five innocent men for murder.
In November of 2004, the IPCC – the Independent Police Complaints Commission – supervised a reinvestigation done by the South Wales Police into the original murder investigation. On April 13th, 2005, five retired police officers were arrested and charged with false imprisonment, conspiring to pervert the course of justice, and misconduct in public office. Four more officers were arrested for their riles in the original investigation on April 21st, 2005, and another 13 people were arrested for their connections to the investigation. On May 19th, 2005, three serving officers were arrested. By November of 2005, 30 arrests were made – 19 were serving or retired police officers.
In February of 2007, Angela Psaila, Leanne Vilday, Mark Grommek, and Paul Atkins were charged with perjury. Paul Atkins was found unfit to stand trial. The other three went to trial.
Angela Psaila admitted that she’d told nothing but lies. She was vehement that the police made her do it. She said that the police had been hounding her for months. They kept threatening to charge her for the murder of Lynette if she didn’t tell them what they wanted her to tell them. They kept telling her that they found her blood – that AB blood that belonged to Jeffrey Gafoor – at the scene. The pressure became too much for her. She signed the statement that had been laid out for her by police.
Leanne Vilday was similarly pressured and hounded by police. Like Angela, she kept telling them that she knew nothing about the murder. They didn’t believe her. Then, they really got under Leanne’s skin.
The officers interrogating Leanne showed her photos of biracial children who’d been beaten. Leanne was affected – she was the single mother of a biracial child. She was told that she’d be charged for murder, sent to prison, and this is what would happen to her child once he was put in care – he’d be beaten for being biracial. Leanne succumbed under the threat to her child. She signed a statement put before her by police.
Grommek testified to similar treatment. Police threatened to imprison him unless he told them what they wanted to hear – which was not the truth, just their narrative. They threatened to lock him in the cells and do a “blanket job” on him – which meant covering him with a blanket and beating him so that the bruises wouldn’t show. They berated him for his sexuality, called him names, and threw furniture around the interrogation room. He was denied a solicitor over and over again. He was told he would only go home if he named The Cardiff Five as the murderers. The threat to his personal safety broke him – he signed a statement that was similar to Leanne’s and Angela’s.
The public now knew the truth – they’d been bullied into their false statements for fear of their own personal, mental, and sexual safety. They were found guilty of perjury and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.
This is what Justice Madison had to say about the treatment of the witnesses: “It has been accepted by the prosecution, and I too accept, that you had to be sentenced on the basis that all three of you, vulnerable in different ways as you were, were seriously hounded, bullied, threatened, abused, and manipulated by police during a period of several months leading up to late 1988, as a result of which you felt compelled to agree to the false accounts that they were suggesting to you.”
Part of the truth was out. But several people were still about to stand trial.
On July 6th, 2011, the UK’s largest ever police corruption trial opened at Swansea Crown Court. Of the 30 who were arrested, only the following were in the dock that day – Graham Mouncher, Richard Powell, Thomas Page, Michael Daniels, Paul Jennings, Paul Stephen, Peter Greenwood, John Seaford, and two civilians, Violet Perriam (charged with perjury and willfully making a statement she knew to be false), and Ian Massey (charged with perjury).
Nicholas Dean QC opened for the prosecution. He focused on November 16th, 1988 – the day that Violet Perriam made her false statement to her good friends over at the Butetown Police Station. At this time, the police were determined to make the evidence fit their narrative, and Perriam’s statement did just that. With some tweaks, and severe abuse of witnesses, they got what they wanted. And now they were on trial for police corruption.
Quite predictably, the defence accused the Five – again – but amended that Gafoor was involved with them, as well. Apparently, this was the hill that the original investigators were choosing to die on.
In December of 2011, the trial hit a snag – there were documents missing that could not be found, therefore failing the disclosure process. Four of the documents were “found to be missing from their expected location”. It was later concluded that those documents had been destroyed on 2010.
As a result, the prosecution told the court: “Prosecution can no longer sustain a position maintaining that the courts and the defendants can have the required confidence in the disclosure process.” The courts were left with no other choice than to acquit everyone in the dock.
On January 17th, 2012, the missing documents were found int he office of Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Coutts – still in the original box. But there was nothing anyone could do. “The one chance of getting to the truth of the Lynette White murder investigation, which led to one of the UK’s most notorious miscarriages of justice, was gone.”
In 2015, 8 former officers sued South Wales Police. Justice Wyn Williams rejected the claim on June 14th, 2016 in a judgement that was 213 pages long. Most damningly, he stated: “ I find it very difficult to understand how the accounts emerged as they did if no police officer was instrumental in what occurred. I have reached the clear conclusion that reasonable grounds existed from the start of LW3 [the inquiry into police corruption] to suspect that the untruthful accounts which the core four gave about the involvement of the original defendants in Lynette’s murder were brought about by criminal conduct on the part of police officers involved in LW1 [the original murder investigation]. In my judgement, it was permissible for LW3 officers to suspect that officers who had been part of LW1 had engaged in a conspiracy to mould and manipulate evidence.”
All forms of legal recourse had been exasperated. There was, and still is, nothing left to do to bring true justice to The Cardiff Five.
As of 2019, Jeffrey Gafoor had two opportunities to apply for parole. Both times, he was denied. Lynette White’s killer is still behind bars.
The lives of five men were adversely affected by terrible police work done by South Wales Police in 1988. We can only hope that such a horrendous frame-up never transpires again.
— — —
Like what you’re reading? Follow me on Twitter or Facebook for the latest updates!
Or, Buy me a coffee!
Sources:
Shreds: Murder in the dock podcast – produced and narrated by Ceri Jackson
The Cardiff Three: the long wait for justice – Duncan Campbell for The Guardian
Lynette White killer Jeffrey Gafoor twice refused parole – Alun Jones for BBC News
Murder of Lynette White Wikipedia page
[…] So, who killed Lynette White? Come back next week and find out in part two. […]