DNA to the rescue once again

A masked rapist was tracked down after 14 years when a relative gave a DNA sample in a completely unrelated case. Detectives reopened the investigation into the violent assault in Bridgwater, in Somerset, in 1993 when test results revealed a family connection to the attacker. More than 4,000 people related to the arrested man were traced and tested before detectives caught up with 42-year-old Geoffrey Godfrey.

Godfrey, now 42, raped the 36-year-old married mother of two after he attacked her as she walked along a canal towpath. Although the rapist’s DNA was recovered from semen samples, Godfrey was not on any data-base. Only this year after the arrest of a relative were detectives able to draw up a family tree and narrow the search for the attacker.

At Bristol Crown Court yesterday, Godfrey admitted rape, attempted buggery and indecent assault. Judge Julian Lambert, sentencing him to six years in jail, said: “The terror and distress you caused to that lady towers above all else in this case.”

The court heard that Godfrey attacked his victim on a canal bridge in Bridgwater, Somerset, at 1am on April 25, 1993. Godfrey, wearing a dark balaclava and gloves, grabbed the woman from behind and used one hand to cover her mouth while he raped her. Martin Steen, prosecuting, said the woman was too terrified to scream for fear of what he might do to her. Mr Steen said: ”She tried to keep his hands away from her but she failed. Her tights were ripped as he pulled at them. She also became aware her T-shirt had been pulled up.” The victim, in a statement read to the court, said that she was still traumatised by the attack and was afraid to go out at night.

Ian Pringle QC, mitigating, said that Godfrey had a good reputation and those who knew him including his wife and sister found it difficult to believe that he committed the offence. He said: “He is known in the community as a decent, hard-working individual. He clearly acted all those years ago in a terribly out-of-character way.”

This is the first time Avon and Somerset police have successfully used familial evidence in a cold-case rape investigation. Godfrey was implicated after DNA from another family member convicted of an unrelated crime was added to the DNA database. The review of the case began in 2005 and details of more than 4,000 potential matches had to be processed and eliminated to produce the “one in a billion” match.

Tests were performed over a 16-month period and voluntary swabs were obtained from Godfrey in September 2006. The Forensic Science Service in Birmingham took three days to confirm him as the rapist. Detective Sergeant Mike Britton, who headed the investigation, revealed that there were still more than 20 undetected DNA profiles on the database for similar offences He said: “This result sends a clear message to anyone who thinks they have escaped justice for similar offences. “With every advance in science it is only a matter of time before they, too, are arrested.”

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Australia: Loutish killer out of jail in less than a year

A man whose "impulsive and loutish" push led to the death of an 83-year-old Sydney war veteran could be free in less than a year. In jailing Craig William Wheatley for a minimum of two years today, Justice Virginia Bell accepted he had not intended to cause Robert Narramore any physical harm. After drinking three bottles of beer and having a heated argument with an acquaintance, Wheatley pushed Mr Narramore aside on a footpath at Riverwood in Sydney's south-west in September last year. Mr Narramore, who had turned 83 the day before, then fell into the path of a passing car.

Wheatley, 46, of Riverwood, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the NSW Supreme Court. Justice Bell said his history of chronic schizophrenia had played no immediate role in his offending behaviour, which she described as "impulsive and loutish". She offered the court's sympathy to Mr Narramore's family, referring to victim impact statements from his grandson and daughter-in-law.

Glenn Narramore, who spoke of his grandfather having "devoted himself to the service of others in the community", had been greatly affected by his loss in such tragic circumstances, the judge said. Joan Narramore referred to the change in her husband, Robert junior, after his father's death. "From being able to handle the everyday stresses of life and work, there is now a little bottle of pills sitting on the shelf," she wrote. "You are reminded of what happened on the TV and in the newspapers and from being just an ordinary 'keep to themselves family' you are put in the spotlight and are expected to be what you are not."

Wheatley had worked as a baker until he was diagnosed with schizophrenia in the 1980s, the judge said. Since then he had been on medication and while he had committed some crimes, he had never served a jail term. When examined by a psychiatrist in February, Wheatley said the offence was an accident, adding: "We don't even know if he is deceased or not, with the DNA'". "The police said he was dead but I am not sure," he said.

Calling these statements "bizarre", Justice Bell said Wheatley's mental illness made it difficult to assess his remorse. But she accepted he was unlikely to re-offend by committing any serious offence. Justice Bell backdated his two-year minimum term to when he was taken into custody, meaning he will be eligible for release on parole in September next year. She set a maximum term of three years and nine months.

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Texas: In police lineups, eyewitness testimony is usually faulty

In a recent case, DNA analysis wasn't wrong, but witness was. How HPD can reform its lineups

On Tuesday, Oct. 9, a Houston Chronicle headline on a Page One article read: "Something needs to be done." The day before, Ronald Taylor, who had just been released after spending 14 years in prison for a sexual assault he did not commit, appeared before City Council to ask that something be done for other wrongfully convicted people in prison. The response of city officials seemed to consider Taylor's wrongful conviction as another example of the problems with the Houston Police Department crime lab. Addressing the problems at the crime lab has been a long and expensive process.

What gets lost in the discussion of Taylor's case is that his conviction was not based on a mistaken analysis of DNA evidence by the HPD crime lab. Taylor was convicted based on mistaken eyewitness testimony of the victim. The only role DNA played in his case is that the Innocence Project found DNA evidence that exonerated Taylor that the HPD crime lab overlooked or ignored.

Taylor's exoneration is similar to other people whose convictions have been overturned by DNA evidence: Seventy-five percent of wrongful convictions result from faulty eyewitness identifications. This is a problem City Council can solve for future cases prosecuted here.

Repeated studies have shown that the traditional lineup procedures produce mistaken identifications. Despite this, HPD continues to use those very same procedures: live and photo lineups, usually conducted by one of the officers involved in the investigation or the arrest of the suspect.

The Innocence Project endorses reforms of the lineup procedures that have been developed to counter the problems with eyewitness lineup identifications. City Council should force HPD to adopt these procedures:

* Blind administration: The police officer administering the lineup (photo or live) should not be told which person in the lineup is the suspect. This procedure sharply reduces the risk of misidentification by witnesses. When the officer knows the identity of the suspect, the officer may inadvertently give the witness subtle or not-so-subtle indications to the witness to pick the suspect.

* Lineup composition: The persons in the lineup must resemble the eyewitness' description of the perpetrator. For example, the suspect should not be the only member of in the lineup with facial hair.

* Sequential lineups: The persons in the lineup should be presented to the witness one-by-one (sequential), not all at once (simultaneous), as is presently done. A sequential lineup reduces the chance the witnesses will identify an innocent persons as the perpetrator. When witnesses view several people at once (for example, a card with six photos), witnesses tend to choose the person who looks the most like but may not actually be the suspect.

* Single view: Witnesses should never be shown separate lineups with the same suspect's photograph, or shown a sequential lineup with more than one photograph of the suspect in the same lineup. When a suspect's photo is included in two separate lineups, or is included more than once in the same lineup, the witness begins to see the suspect as familiar and is more likely to identify the suspect as the perpetrator.

* Instructions: The witnesses viewing a lineup should be told the suspect may not be in the lineup and that the investigation will continue regardless of the lineup result.

* Confidence statements: Immediately after the lineup, the lineup witnesses should provide a statement, in their own words, articulating their level of confidence in the identification.

* Recording: The identification procedures should be videotaped whenever possible. This protects innocent suspects from any misconduct by the officer conducting the lineup, and helps the prosecution by showing a jury that the procedure was legitimate.

City leaders should be weary of making apologies to innocent people who were convicted of crimes they did not commit. By requiring HPD to reform its lineup procedures, the city can reduce the risk of wrongful convictions without spending millions of dollars. The Chronicle headline was right: Something needs to be done. Now.

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Australia: Police bungle helps confessed killer

A POLICE bungle means the man who helped a schoolgirl heroin victim shoot up will escape with a minor charge of drug supply despite admitting to police he "killed her". The decision comes eight months after an inquest heard fish shop worker Simon Munro admitted administering heroin that claimed 15-year-old Georgia Chant's life at Narrabeen in 2005. Munro, 27, will face court next month on a single charge of supplying a prohibited drug.

However the move, following the recommendations of the Director of Public Prosecution, has angered Georgia's family, who hoped the former actor from Scotland Island would face manslaughter charges. Georgia's mother Kerry Chant said yesterday the family was upset to learn a interview in which Munro admitted "killing" the teenager was inadmissible because he was not properly warned by police. The family wrote to the DPP, Nicholas Cowdery QC, seeking answers, but was told there was insufficient admissible evidence to lay manslaughter charges.

An angry Ms Chant said she felt abandoned by the system, after police failed to act when Georgia was first reported to be staying with Munro, 24 hours before she died. The low-grade charge was the final insult. "We are gutted . . . absolutely outraged," Ms Chant, who gave The Daily Telegraph permission to identify her daughter, said. "It just shows that somebody can do something so horrendous and get away with it."

The decision comes after Deputy State Coroner Dorelle Pinch terminated an inquest into Georgia's death in February, ruling there was enough evidence for a conviction against Munro, who admitted he helped the Clareville teenager inject herself because she was not doing it correctly. Georgia died after overdosing on a cocktail of heroin and sleeping pills on October 9, 2005, while staying in a Narrabeen unit Munro shared with his brother. Munro denied he was to blame for Georgia's death in an interview with The Daily Telegraph three weeks after the overdose.

The inquest was terminated after the confessed heroin addict refused to answer questions from the witness box.

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Breaking up the forensic science monopoly

Eight ways to fix a broken system

America's forensics system, the part of our criminal justice system responsible for scientific examinations of crime-scene evidence like fingerprints and DNA, is rife with errors. Some mistakes, like botched tests or erroneously interpreted results, are inevitable. But current error rates are needlessly high. The most recent comprehensive study of crime lab proficiency, published by the Journal of Forensic Sciences in 1995, analyzed the tests administered by the Forensic Sciences Foundation and Collaborative Testing Services as a part of the accreditation process. For many forensic disciplines, including the analysis of fibers, paints, glass, and body fluid mixtures, the rate of incorrect matches between recovered evidence and a reference sample exceeded 10 percent.

The best-performing group of disciplines, which included "finger and palm prints, metals, firearms, and footwear," had error rates at or above 2 percent. The first item on that list is especially important: False fingerprint identification usually leads to a false conviction, because of the prestige of fingerprint evidence and its undeserved reputation for infallibility. With 238,135 requests for latent fingerprint comparisons in 2002 alone, a false positive error rate of 2 percent implies up to 4,800 false convictions or guilty pleas made in hopes of a lighter sentence each year in the U.S., 1,700 of them in felony cases. (The number of improperly matched fingerprints is not completely clear. A 2005 study of fingerprint analysis suggests that the false positive rate may now be as low as 0.8 percent. But another recent study suggests it could exceed 4 percent.)

Confronted with such statistics, policy makers usually call for greater oversight-that is, finding a governmental body to watch over forensics and make sure everyone does his or her job right. In the current climate, that certainly would help. But the core problem with modern forensics isn't an absence of oversight. It's monopoly. Once evidence goes to a given lab or facility, it is unlikely to be examined by any other lab or facility. That increases the chances that a mistake will slip through undetected. With the right reforms, we can break down that monopoly and create a working system of checks and balances. Here are eight steps to a better system:

1. Rivalrous redundancy. A jurisdiction should contain several competing forensic labs. To the extent that it's feasible, some evidence should be chosen at random for multiple testing at other labs. The same DNA evidence, for example, might be sent to three labs for analysis. The forensic scientist would not know when a given piece of evidence was being examined by another lab. For fingerprints, multiple examinations should be routine. If the rate of false positive fingerprint error is 2 percent, triplicate examinations would eliminate 96 percent of false felony convictions due to misidentified fingerprints.

2. Independence. Coroners and forensic scientists often have a pro-police bias, thinking of themselves as a part of the prosecution team. To establish their independence from police and prosecutors, crime labs should be organized by the courts, not the cops.

3. Statistical review. Statistical review would lead to improved quality control. For example, if a given lab produces an unusually large number of inconclusive findings, its procedures and practices should be examined by an officer of the court.

4. Masking. When conducting forensic analyses, coroners and forensic scientists should be shielded from what psychologists call "domain-irrelevant information." Knowing whether the case at hand is, for example, a murder or a burglary exposes a fingerprint examiner to a powerful unconscious bias: The emotional nature of a murder case tends to make the scientist eager to get a killer off the streets and more likely to declare a match. In a 2006 study by researchers at the University of Southampton, domain-irrelevant information doubled the error rate of experienced fingerprint examiners.

5. Forensic counsel for the indigent. Although forensic science decides many criminal cases, we do not have a right to forensic counsel similar to our right to legal counsel. Just as an indigent defendant has a right to the help of a qualified attorney, an indigent defendant should have the right to the help of a scientist qualified to interpret forensic analyses.

6. Forensic vouchers. An indigent suspect on trial should also have the right to select his own forensic counsel and use a government-issued voucher to pay for it. The forensic scientist who accepts the case would later redeem the voucher at the courthouse, receiving his paycheck from an officer of the court. Such a system would give forensic counselors to the poor an incentive to provide high-quality services.


7. Division of labor between forensic analysis and interpretation. A forensic scientist who conducts a blood test, for example, should not say whether the test excludes the suspect. The interpretation of the test should be made by other forensic scientists. When a lab report comes back, it should be transmitted to two forensic scientists-one representing the prosecution and one representing the defense-for interpretation. Combined with public funding of forensic experts for defendants who cannot afford them, this will make it less likely that errors of interpretation will go unchallenged.

8. Privatization. Private labs are subject to civil liability and administrative fines for poor performance. They therefore have stronger financial incentives than publicly owned enterprises to provide good and reliable work.

While those eight reforms would establish a system of competitive self-regulation, they are not an exhaustive description of good forensic practice. For example, labs should be accredited by groups such as the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors' Laboratory Accreditation Board, and they should have routine procedures to measure variables related to quality and a planned system of review to allow those procedures to be updated regularly.

These eight steps would also reduce the costs of the criminal justice system. The extra cost of multiple forensic tests is dwarfed by the savings associated with reduced jail time for the wrongly convicted. For example, the $100 cost of a fingerprint examination is one one-thousandth of the cost of incarcerating a wrongly convicted felon who has been given the average sentence of almost five years.

In Federalist No. 51, James Madison endorsed a "policy of supplying, by opposite and rival interests, the defect of better motives," in order "to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that each may be a check on the other; that the private interest of every individual may be a sentinel over the public rights." It is time to make the private interest of every coroner, every medical examiner, and every forensic scientist a sentinel over the public rights. r

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Britain: Supervision of freed criminals is a 'catastrophe'

The supervision of dangerous criminals in the community has been branded a "catastrophic failure" after it emerged that more are committing serious offences than ever before. Official figures showed that in the 12 months to April, 83 carried out further serious offences, including rape and murder, on their release from prison. This is compared to 61 in the previous year.

Twelve crimes were carried out by offenders assessed as being among the "critical few". These are around 1,200 people with the highest risk of harming the public who are meant to be under the most rigorous supervision.

Statistics from the Ministry of Justice covering England and Wales also showed a 30 per cent rise in the number of registered sex offenders charged or cautioned for breaching their notification requirements. These include keeping police informed when they move house

Serious criminals released from jail are covered by "multi-agency public protection arrangements" (Mappas). They bring together police, probation, social services and other agencies to supervise dangerous offenders once they are released from jail. Last year, they monitored 48,668 violent and sex offenders in England and Wales, up two per cent on the previous 12 months. This included 30,416 people on the sex offenders' register.

Opposition MPs said the figures showed the Government was failing in its first duty to protect the public. David Heath, the Liberal Democrats' justice spokesman, said: "This confirms that prison is clearly not discouraging these people from reoffending. "More resources need to be put into protective services at all levels to protect the public, not just those assessed to be the highest risk." Mr Heath added: "For even one offender to commit another serious offence while under supervision is unacceptable. For 83 to do so in a single year — a tenth of all the offenders released from prison — is a catastrophic failure."

Nick Herbert, the shadow justice secretary, said: ''When the system is so clearly failing to protect the public, it is extraordinary that the Government should be proposing to water down indeterminate sentences with the consequence that more high-risk offenders will be released on to our streets."

But Maria Eagle, the Justice Minister, said: "Protecting the public is of paramount importance to the Government." She added: "We have one of the most advanced systems in the world for monitoring and managing dangerous offenders. But we are not complacent and continue to look for ways to improve how we manage these offenders, and how best to support those responsible for the task locally." Miss Eagle said a new system called ViSOR (Violent and Sex Offender Register) had been introduced this month to tighten supervision. She said: "For the first time police, probation and prison services will be working on the same IT system, thus improving the quality and timeliness of risk assessments and interventions to prevent re-offending."

Officials said the proportion of offenders on Mappas who reoffend was very small though they acknowledged that more serious criminals were being reconvicted. Roger Hill, director of the Probation Service, said his staff's efforts to ensure that the protection of the public and reduce reoffending were "tireless", but added that there were "no easy solutions'

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The British "sleepwalking" myth

There is this strange upsurge of perfectly conscious behaviour in Britain that is being attributed to "sleepwalking". It's not a bad idea to establish your credentials as a sleepwalker in Britain. People have been acquitted of very serious crimes (e.g. here) after they said they were sleepwalking

A SURGE in naked sleepwalking among guests has led one of Britain's largest budget hotel groups to re-train staff to handle late-night nudity. Travelodge, which runs more than 300 business hotels in Britain, says sleepwalking rose seven-fold in the past year, and 95 per cent of guests are scantily clad men. "We have seen an increased number of cases over the years so it is important that our staff know how to help sleepwalking when it arises," Leigh McCarron, the chain's sleep director, said in a statement.

One tip in the company's newly released "sleepwalkers guide" tells staff to keep towels handy at the front desk in case a customer's dignity needs preserving. The company said naked wanderers often ask receptionists such questions as "Where's the bathroom," "Do you have a newspaper?" or "Can I check out, I'm late for work?"

Studies have found that sleepwalking can be brought on by stress, alcohol, eating cheese or consuming too much caffeine. It generally takes effect an hour or two after going to bed, when people are first slipping into a deep sleep. Asked Thursday why she thought 95 per cent of its sleepwalkers were naked men. A Travelodge spokeswoman said: "We have more men staying with us than women, so that could be a factor."

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Unjust NY

A report released by the Innocence Project shows that New York outpaces almost every other state in the number of wrongful convictions overturned by DNA testing - but lags behind most other states in implementing policy reforms that can prevent wrongful convictions.

The 118-page report, titled "Lessons Not Learned," details 23 wrongful convictions in New York that have been overturned through DNA evidence, analyzes each case to identify the causes of wrongful convictions and outlines reforms that can improve the state's criminal justice system. "Every exoneration is a learning moment that can deepen our understanding of the criminal justice system's shortcomings and provide a roadmap for restoring integrity and confidence in the system," the report found. "Despite the large number of DNA exonerations - particularly since 2000 - and despite the fact that these 23 DNA exonerations are only the tip of the iceberg since so few cases involve DNA, New York has not learned the lessons of these exonerations and taken action to prevent future injustice."

Several of the reforms outlined in the report are currently awaiting action in the New York State Legislature, which failed to act on them earlier this year. They address the causes of wrongful convictions and provide mechanisms for wrongfully convicted people to prove their innocence (which also help identify the true perpetrators of crimes). "There is no doubt that wrongful convictions are a problem in New York, yet the legislative, executive and judicial branches have not implemented reforms that are proven to enhance the criminal justice system," said Peter Neufeld, co-director of the Innocence Project, which is affiliated with Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University. "Many other states have begun to address and prevent wrongful convictions, and it's well past time for New York to take steps that can improve public safety and restore confidence in the criminal justice system."

Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore, who earlier this year released a far-reaching analysis of the factors that went into the wrongful conviction and ultimate exoneration of Jeffrey Deskovic for a 1989 Peekskill murder he did not commit, said the Innocence Project report underscored that the criminal justice system must embrace "the expectation of fairness." The report commissioned by DiFiore is included as an appendix in "Lessons Not Learned." "As prosecutors, our obligation is to vigorously search for the truth and aggressively prosecute the guilty, and the justification that gives us the moral, as well as the legal authority, to do so is that we just as vigorously protect the rights of the innocent," said DiFiore. The findings in "Lessons Not Learned, include:

In the last seven years, there has been a particularly high number of DNA exonerations in New York State. Since 2000, 17 wrongfully convicted people in New York have been exonerated with DNA evidence; seven of the 17 were wrongfully convicted of murder.

In 10 of New York's 23 DNA exonerations, the actual perpetrator was later identified.

In nine of those 10 cases, the actual perpetrators of crimes for which innocent people were wrongfully convicted went on to commit additional crimes while an innocent person was in prison. According to law enforcement reports, five murders, seven rapes, two serious assaults and one robbery at gunpoint were committed by the actual perpetrators of crimes for which innocent people were committed - and each of those crimes was committed after the wrongful arrest or conviction, so they could have been prevented if wrongful convictions had not happened.

Eyewitness misidentification played a role in 13 of the 23 wrongful convictions in New York that were overturned with DNA testing.

In 10 of the 23 cases in New York, innocent people falsely confessed or admitted to crimes that DNA later proved they did not commit.

Limited or unreliable forensic science played a role in 10 of the 23 wrongful convictions in New York that were overturned through DNA evidence.

The report recommends that New York State's legislative, executive and judicial branches:

Ensure proper preservation, cataloguing and retention of biological evidence.

Avoid placing limits regarding when DNA can be retested to establish the innocence of the wrongfully convicted (or when other evidence of innocence can be introduced that could prove innocence post-conviction).

Enable defendants to obtain comparisons of crime scene evidence to forensic databases.

Require videotaping of custodial interrogations in their entirety.

Mandate implementation of eyewitness identification procedures that are proven to increase accuracy and minimize the likelihood of misidentifications.

Establish an independent commission to examine the causes of wrongful convictions and propose remedies to prevent them.

The report also outlines how New York stacks up against other states in implementing reforms to address and prevent wrongful convictions.
Six states - but not New York - have formed Innocence Commissions to identify the causes of wrongful convictions and develop remedies to prevent them. All but one of those states (Illinois) have far fewer wrongful convictions overturned through DNA than New York does.

22 states - but not New York - have statutes mandating the preservation of crime scene evidence. The 22 states with such laws include California, Florida, Texas, Virginia, Oklahoma, Montana and Kentucky.

33 states do not place time limits on when post-conviction DNA testing can be conducted to prove innocence. A proposal advanced in New York State earlier this year would impose time limits.

17 states - but not New York - considered legislation this year to improve eyewitness identification procedures. Bills passed in five states and made progress in seven others.

Nine states - but not New York - require at least some interrogations to be recorded (either through state statute or ruling of the state high court). In addition, more than 500 local jurisdictions record at least some interrogations. Even though more people have been exonerated by DNA after falsely confessing to crimes in New York than in any other state, only two of these 500 local jurisdictions are in New York State.

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Corrupt BBC attacks innocent man

And not even an apology forthcoming

Just over a year ago the BBC produced a program from former Daily Record journalist and serial police hater Mark Daly. It alleged that one John Davidson obstructed the investigation into the Lawrence murder due to being corrupt. At the time, due to personal involvement in the case, I wrote a piece and asked Chris at Devils Kitchen to publish it anonymously. John Davidson, his family and I thank Chris for his co-operation in spreading the word so quickly in those dark days.

Following a complaint to the IPCC Davidson has been cleared (now for the fourth time) of corruption. And not only that but the BBC has been chastised for making a program that was so unbalanced in the first place.

In about an hour and a half I was able to put together the post that went up before the program was broadcast and dispelled all the allegations against Davidson. But yet the BBC persisted in this program because it was too attractive to them not to accuse a police officer of racism and corruption.

Following the program, and Yates allegation in it, Davidson instructed lawyers to contact the Met to request clarification of the point where it was claimed a serving DAC had seen proof of corruption. The last time I heard anything the deadline for a response to the lawyers had passed without reply. Indeed given the Met's response to the investigation it now seems that Yates is the only officer in the Met who holds this view. And given that he should now resign with immediate effect.

Be under no illusion, John Davidson's 2006 was one that should have been remembered as a time when he became a grandfather for the first time (twice) yet we will remember it as the time when the BBC broadcast falsehoods and worked his reputation over for little more than cheap ratings.

UPDATE: The original allegation received days of prominent headlines on both BBCi and on the main news bulletins despite them knowing it, as the Met told them, to be little more than a baseless allegation. Less than 24 hours after the report was published the story has went from main page side-bar to having fallen off the indexes of the website. Meantime the BBC could not devote any time in their Sunday evening reports on BBC 1 after Strictly Come Dancing to covering it while Five had an item (complete with shot of John's face) in the middle of their movie.

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Britain: Brother and sister reunite after 70-years wrongful imprisonment

Seventy years locked up in institutions hardly seems to be a punishment that befits the crime of stealing half-a-crown. However, it is just such a fate that befell Jean Gambell when at the age of 15, in 1937, she was falsely accused of stealing 2s 6d (12.5p -- a quarter -- according to current conversion rate) from the doctor's surgery where she worked as a cleaner.

She was sectioned under the 1890 Lunacy Act and even though the money was later found, she has been moved from mental institution to mental institution. More recently, she went into a care home and has been lost to her family, who thought she was dead. But last month, by chance, her brother stumbled across correspondence which led to the discovery of her existence and the family was reunited.

Her brother David Gambell, 63, who still lives in his mother's old home in Merseyside, received a questionnaire addressed to his mother from Macclesfield Mews Care Home. "I thought it was just a survey for old people and I was about to throw it away when I saw Jean's name pencilled in on one corner," he said on Friday. "I couldn't believe it. I suddenly realised my sister was still alive. I rang the care home straight away and they confirmed our sister was there." He and his brother Alan, who had last seen their sister as small children when she was allowed to visit home with two wardens as guards, travelled to the Macclesfield home.

They were told by staff their 85-year-old sister was deaf, could only communicate in writing and was very unlikely to remember them. "A little old lady on walking sticks came in," said Alan. "She looked at us and cried out: 'Alan?...?David'. Then she put her arms around us. It was very emotional. "I am sure that what has kept her going all these years was the challenge of proving to the authorities she had a family. The trouble was, nobody would listen to her."

The brothers spent much of their childhood in orphanages because their parents were so poor. They said they had later discovered their father had tried for years to get Jean freed after she was put in Cranage Hall mental hospital in Macclesfield for being "of feeble mind", but was unsuccessful because her records had been mislaid. She spent years, lost in a maze of institutions and care homes, trying to convince people in authority she had a family. But nobody would believe her. Macclesfield Social Services are conducting an inquiry.

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Britain: No jail for vicious black



A man who punched a 96-year-old man, blinding him in one eye, has been spared jail. Croydon Crown Court was shown CCTV images (above) of Stephen Gordon, 44, punching Shah Chaudhury, who uses two walking sticks, after brushing against him in a tram travelling between Sandilands and east Croydon, in South London, last December. Judge Kenneth Macrae convicted Gordon, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, of causing grievous bodily harm to the Second World War veteran. He sentenced Gordon to a three-year supervision order, requiring him to receive psychiatric treatment.


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Unaccountable judges

Comment by an experienced Canadian police officer

Courts are about testing. Testing the strength, the attributes, of a case. If a case is negligent, other players in the courtroom have a "duty of care" to expose all the flaws and poke holes in the character of the case. That's their job. But it doesn't always happen. Any judge, worth his or her salt, will admit that at times he or she has been dumbfounded by the questions that are not being asked by defence counsel. Questions that could neutralize the jeopardy of seemingly damning evidence. Questions that could coolly highlight investigative error. Questions that could stave off conviction and perhaps wrongful imprisonment. The high court's ruling ignored such negligence.

Further up the food chain there are the judges who decide things in a calm atmosphere during civilized hours.

A spotless investigation can still yield a weak case and so it is in sterile chambers, with time and supposed wisdom, that judges sit and among other things write out directions to juries, setting out the rules that must follow to determine innocence or guilt. Sometimes those instructions are dead wrong. Sometimes people are wrongly convicted and go to jail because of those directions. And sometimes years pass before the appeal that lands on the judge's negligent reasoning.

One innocent man in jail is one too many -- regardless of who is responsible. To take wrongful conviction inquiries beyond cheap, legal theatre the input of investigators, all counsel, the accused and the judge is needed. Maybe even the jury. And at the conclusion of an agenda-free inquiry there should be clear guidance as to where the negligence lies. An innocent man seeking justice needs to know everyone who's at fault for facilitating the circumstances that allowed him to rot in jail for something he didn't do.

But predictably, the only people covered in the ruling are the police. The grunts, the low rung on the ladder. The Supreme Court is not likely to ever hold judges to similar account because unlike the police, who the court says shouldn't be concerned by the threat of a civil suit, the judiciary's independence would surely somehow be compromised by the same standard. And that will ensure full accountability remains that elusive goal of justice.

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Canada: Mullins-Johnson finally cleared

But a huge stain on forensic science remains. How many more pathologists like Charles Smith are out there?

An emotional and relieved William Mullins-Johnson said "I finally have my name back," after the Ontario Court of Appeal agreed he was wrongly convicted of murder in the death of his four-year-old niece in 1994. "It was worse than a scarlet letter," said Mullins-Johnson about the 12 years he spent in prison. A three-judge panel entered an acquittal yesterday after the Crown conceded his first-degree murder conviction was a miscarriage of justice.


Mullins-Johnson, 37, was found guilty in the 1993 death of his four-year-old niece Valin Johnson, whom he had been babysitting. He has been free on bail since September 2005, after the provincial coroner's office ordered a review of the findings of controversial pathologist Dr. Charles Smith in a number of criminal proceedings. Smith now lives in Saanich.

The doctor who conducted the original autopsy of the girl said there was no evidence of a recent sexual assault the night she died. Smith contradicted this and stated Valin had been sexually assaulted within 45 minutes of death. The review conducted by Dr. Michael Pollanen, chief forensic pathologist in Ontario, concluded that Smith made a number of errors. "There was no evidence of sexual injuries in this case," Pollanen testified yesterday.

He agreed with a suggestion by Crown attorney Michal Fairburn that Valin died "inexplicably" and was not a victim of a homicide. The girl's death is one of more than a dozen criminal cases since the early 1990s where Smith was found to have made errors and which will be the subject of an upcoming judicial inquiry.

Justice Dennis O'Connor told Mullins-Johnson yesterday that it was "regrettable" he had spent so long in custody because of "flawed" pathological evidence.

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Britain: Only two years for murder gang

They should have been sent to jail until they were 30. They might have grown up by then

Five boys who stoned a pensioner to death as he played cricket with his son were yesterday each sentenced to two years. The boys, aged 12 to 14 and said to have come from good families, were described by an Old Bailey judge as cowardly and disgraceful. The youngsters had been part of a gang that surrounded Ernest Norton, 67, as he played cricked with his son James, 17, in February last year at Erith leisure centre in Kent. The gang shouted abuse and spat, then hurled sticks and stones at Mr Norton. Two of the stones, one the size of a brick, hit Mr Norton on the temple and fractured his cheekbone. As he collapsed with a heart attack they ran away.

The boys, the youngest of whom was aged only 10 at the time, were convicted in August of manslaughter and violent disorder. During the trial Mr Norton’s son had told the court how the gang attacked without provocation and shouted at Mr Norton: “Go back to the old people’s home.” Sending them to youth detention yesterday, Judge Warwick McKinnon said: “This was a vicious, entirely unprovoked and sustained group attack involving a barrage of missiles.” Before the attack the boys had been running amok at the leisure centre, smashing windows and looking for a fight with a rival gang.

“You had each hyped yourselves up by your earlier rowdy mischief and misbehaviour before you attacked the most unfortunate Ernest Norton – he was entirely innocent,” Judge McKinnon said. “First you abused him and his son, then spat at him and then launched a barrage of missiles at him.” The boys were “cowardly” for fleeing when a large stone hit Mr Norton, the judge said. “He suffered a heart attack and died – all this before the eyes of his son, who had to watch his father die in these dreadful circumstances,” Judge McKinnon said. “The conduct of all of you as a group was utterly disgraceful and criminally irresponsible.”

Mr Norton’s, wife, Linda, had come running from the gym to cradle her husband as he lay dying. She was at court with her two children and granddaughter. In a victim impact statement, she said that she had known her husband for almost 40 years. They had married in 1975. “In 2006 life was flowing along lovely, everything was normal and you think it will never change,” she said. “Then bang, your life is turned upside down and you have to run on automatic. “Ernie’s death has affected our lives in so many ways, we are still trying to be normal and enjoy ourselves again but I don’t think I ever will.”

She said: “When I see other couples out, especially older couples, I think to myself, ‘They are together, why aren’t we?’ “I miss Ernie just not being there, we did most things together. He was always there for me in every way imaginable. He was a kind-hearted man who looked after his family and friends.” She said of her son: “He lost his role model at such an important time of his life. “To put things simply, the house is just empty without Ernie and life will never be the same again.”

The court was told that the youngest of the attackers had thrown five of the stones. The 10-year-old boy was described as coming from a broken family and just following the others, one of whom was his elder brother. But their mother was described as being a competent parent. Another boy was described as having no family problems, and one was said to have a low IQ but to come from a supportive family. And the fifth, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, came from “a close knit and supportive family” that had shown him right from wrong. The boys hugged their parents and some were crying as they were taken away.

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POLICE SCOFFLAWS IN NYC

For the nearly 20 years I have lived and worked in New York City, one of my biggest pet peeves has been the double standard by which parking regulations are enforced-and for most of those years, I didn't even own a car. Anyone who has ever tried to navigate a sidewalk near a police precinct knows what I'm talking about. Cops feel their badge is a license to park their cars wherever they want, on-duty or off-duty. Middle of the sidewalk, no problem. Blocking an intersection, no problem. Blocking a fire hydrant, no problem.

Firefighters and bureaucrats from other city agencies are just as bad about flouting the law, and the police do nothing about it. All these government employees have "permits" inside their windshields that exempt them from certain parking regulations under limited circumstances, but the permits are widely abused to break the law outright. It is never legal, for example, to block a fire hydrant, regardless of any permit in the windshield. If you or I tried parking in front of a hydrant for just a minute while running into a drycleaner, the tow truck would be there before you got your change.

The response of average New Yorkers to this double standard has been to grumble and shrug. It's one of those only-in-New-York problems that "you can't do anything about," like squeegee men at the tunnels used to be. All that is slowly changing with the recent launch of UncivilServants.org, the muckraking website from Transportation Alernatives. Truth be told, there is little else on the Transportation Alternatives agenda I agree with, but for this project I think they deserve one of those McArthur genius grants.

The format of UncivilServants.org is all very Web 2.0. The site relies on a community of volunteers to spot government employees violating parking regulations, take a digital photo, and upload the evidence. With dozens of new posts each day, UncivilServants.org is a testament both to the power of virtual communities and the pervasiveness of the scofflaw mentality among New York's Finest, Bravest, Strongest, Boldest and other dubious superlatives.

One of the website's most worthwhile achievements has been simply to set the record straight on just what privileges actually come with one of those official parking permits. The system has been abused for so long and so widely that many ordinary New Yorkers erroneously believe that the police may legally park wherever they wish. As UncivilServants.org explains, the official rules regarding parking permits may seem complex at first, but they really boil down to some commonsense (by government standards) guidelines:

1. "Is the vehicle creating a safety hazard? Unless they are responding to an active emergency, no one can park on a sidewalk, in front of a fire hydrant, in a bus stop, crosswalk, intersection, or bike lane.

2. "Is the vehicle parked in a No Permit Zone? Permits are not valid in these areas, though these are often the areas with the highest concentration of permit users and abusers.

3. "If the vehicle is not parked in one of the above situations, check to see if the permit is legal in NYC . . . While some statewide union-issued permits are legal in other cities, they are not allowed on the streets of NYC. This includes Court Officers, Court Clerks, Corrections, and the Uniformed Firefighters Association, among others.

4. "If they are using a valid permit, are they allowed to use it where they are parked (i.e. in the right location on the street, in accordance with the street signage, etc.)? DOT Disability permits are the most permissive permits, though there are still places they can't park. Law Enforcement permits are the next most permissive. Most of the rest of the permits have strict restrictions."

The site includes a handy quick-reference chart that can help you quickly figure out which permits allow parking in which areas. To be fair, not all of the permit abuse is perpetrated by government employees, although they are by far the most egregious offenders. Spend just a few minutes scrolling through the recent posts on UncivilServants.org, and you'll see a fair share of Press, Clergy and Doctor permits being used to scam illegal parking spots, often with the same car parked in the same illegal spot for days on end.

The genesis of UncivilServants.org was a recent comprehensive report by Transportation Alternatives, entitled "Above the Law: A Study of Government Parking Permit Abuse in New York City." The report found that "citywide more than 3 out of every 4 permit holders (77%) used their permits illegally."

Not surprisingly, the police are the worst at breaking the law they get paid to uphold. Cops are responsible for 46% of all permit abuse, according to the Transportation Alternatives study, by far the most of any city agency. Lest anyone think this is just anti-cop liberal bias, the NYPD's own data are just as damning. In a July 2006 analysis of the Park Row street closure around One Police Plaza, the NYPD identified "1,217 cars parked illegally [around police headquarters] . . . Of those, 1,012 were private commuter vehicles with city-issued permits." Other highlights of the Transportation Alternatives report:

"Of valid permits used illegally at the curbside (i.e. illegally parking at signs with riders forbidding that particular permit's usage), the NYPD was responsible for 63% of the abuse.

"Of the 369 total citywide violations in [the] study that caused safety hazards, there were 212 permit holders on sidewalks, 46 blocking fire hydrants, 23 in crosswalks, 22 in bus stops, 8 in intersections, and 10 in bike lanes. The NYPD led the way with 61% of the total abuses.

"The NYPD were the leading abusers of permits using up meters, with 28% of the total.

Court Officers were responsible for the majority of fraudulent permits with 54% of the total, followed by Corrections, Court Clerks, and FDNY. This was in large part due to the proliferation of union-issued permits for these agencies, which are not legal on New York City streets."

All told, Transportation Alternatives estimates there about 150,000 "valid" permits in vehicles around the city (almost half of which are used illegally at any given time), and untold thousands of other illegal photocopies or outright forgeries. With so many targets out there, it's not surprising the UncivilServants.org user community is able to update the site so frequently with new outrages.

Of course, not everyone who posts to the website is a fan of the project. It also attracts a lot of cops who are livid that any of the serfs have the temerity to question their privileged status. It's never smart to provoke a cop-deservedly or not-in person, but on the web it can be great fun to watch them froth with rage.

One of the most frequent users is someone who identifies himself as "bklyncop1." I swear if you look closely at his posts, you can feel his saliva spraying through your computer monitor. In one post that was quoted in the New York Times, bklyncop1 wrote, "I understand you all feel like we take advantage, but look past the parking issue and look at the bright side . . . You wouldn't be on this site without the N.Y.P.D. protecting your lives and property. God bless America and God bless the N.Y.P.D.!!!"

Another retired cop posting on the site was even more blunt about both his sense of privilege and his regard for those who pay his pension (quoted verbatim):

"I have no intentions of ever parking legally whenever I am in NYC. It is a perk that has been in standard practice since the end of time. It is not the officer's fault that the NYPD does not supply enough legal parking for its workers. Where are the garages? This is the main reason police officers are given the parking plaques in the first place. I put my life on the line for the ungreatful scum of this city and this is how they repay us. Screw you and your whining, I put up with this for over 20 yrs and now I am owed a certain perk. Yes, I am retired 2 yrs and yes I have a current parking plaque. I answer to no one now that I am retired and thanks to the brotherhood of blue I am assured that I can park anywhere I want with impunity. Every cop in the city is on the same page. We do not summons our own. Take as many pictures of my auto as you like because I answer to no one. God bless retirement and godbless the NYPD!"

To their credit, not everyone in the police department is so defiant, at least on the record. Whether due to heat generated by UncivilServants.org or a rare streak of moral responsibility, at least one commanding officer is cracking down on permit abuse under his watch. Streetsblog.org, another site dedicated to NYC traffic issues, recently reported that Deputy Inspector Gin Yee, commanding officer of the 5th Precinct in Chinatown, has actually started towing away illegally parked cars near the stationhouse, permits be damned.

However, other cops remain unrepentant. As of this writing, the top post on UncivilServants.org is from bklyncop1, who reiterates: "I've stated a lot of times that people who post pictures on this site are either Cop haters or just jealous."

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Dr Crippen was innocent, say scientists

It was sensational stuff that riveted a nation: A mild-mannered American doctor poisons then dismembers his unfaithful wife, flees England in disguise with his mistress - and is caught, tried and hanged. The problem is that the poisoned corpse that sent Dr Hawley Crippen to the gallows in London in 1910 was not that of his wife, according to new evidence found by US researchers.

A team led by John Trestrail, head of the regional poison centre in Grand Rapids, Michigan, took mitochondrial DNA - genetic material passed on through the mother - from a tissue sample from the corpse kept in a London museum. They then compared it with samples from three of Cora Crippen's female descendants, found after a seven-year search. "That body was not Cora Crippen's," said David Foran, a forensic biologist at Michigan State University. "We don't know who that body was or how it got there."

Crippen, a struggling doctor who moved to England with his showgirl wife, was convicted of poisoning her with an obscure toxin and then burying her dismembered body under their north London home.

Police nabbed Crippen and his mistress on a trans-Atlantic ship as it entered Canadian waters. The captain had recognised the doctor from newspapers and become suspicious of his companion, disguised as a man, and famously used the newly invented wireless telegraph to alert the British police.

"The thing about the Crippen case is the mutilation, which is contradictory to what poisoners do," said Mr Trestrail, whose books on poisons are used by detectives across the world. "They want a 'natural death' certificate, and to walk away." Police found the remains with no head, no bones and no genitals. The grisly revelation shocked the public, spurring newspapers to describe Crippen as "one of the most dangerous and remarkable men who have lived this century". Throughout the trial and all the way to the gallows, he insisted that he was innocent and the body not that of his wife.

But his flight, and the contradictory accounts he gave of his wife's disappearance, did him no favours. The final nail in his coffin was evidence of a scar on the body, which convinced the jury that it was Cora's, an inference that the researchers now say was almost certainly wrong. But they concede that other evidence clearly shows that the body could only have made its way to Crippen's house when he and his wife were living there.

Mr Trestrail speculates that Crippen might have been performing illegal abortions and that the body could have resulted from a procedure that went horribly wrong. There are also clues suggesting that Cora Crippen slipped out of England with a new man and settled in the United States. "The two questions are 'Where did she go?' and 'Whose remains are they?'," Mr Trestrail said. "But that is another investigation and trial."

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Australia: Amazing child rape sentence

QUEENSLANDERS have reacted angrily to the sentence given to a teacher who raped a 13-year-old student, describing the 12 months he will spend in jail as a "slap on the wrist".

Warren David Schneider, 39, abused four girls in Years 8 and 9 during a 15-month period in the photographic room, classrooms and storage closets at a high school south of Brisbane between 2000 and 2002.

He pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court to three counts of rape, one count of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child, seven counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16 under care and one count of indecent treatment of a child aged under 16.

Justice Michael Shanahan on Friday jailed Schneider for five years, to serve 12 months, after considering the five months the former teacher had already spent in custody and his attempts at rehabilitation. Premier Anna Bligh has asked Attorney-General Kerry Shine to investigate appealing the sentence.

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Sleepy British police facilitate multiple rapes

Follow-up to a report here on Sept., 19th.

A serial sex offender who raped two 15-year-old girls after police failed to link his DNA to earlier offences was jailed for life yesterday. Victims' groups and women's rights campaigners criticised the police blunders that allowed Mark Campbell, once dubbed the "Thursday rapist", to evade justice for four years after he was first arrested. During that time Campbell, 38, from Chichester, West Sussex, raped the teenagers and carried out several other sex attacks, as well as two burglaries.

Sussex police took a DNA sample from Campbell in October 2002, after he was arrested in a woman's garden on suspicion of being a "peeping Tom". However, the samples were not sent away for analysis until September 2006, when Campbell's swabs were found to match those taken from some of his victims.

The father-of-two sobbed yesterday as he was convicted of a six-year campaign of offences against women in Sussex. Judge William Wood, QC, told Campbell that he would serve at least ten years in prison. "It is difficult to exaggerate the degree of harm done," the judge said, adding that many of the victims would be "looking over their shoulders for the rest of their lives".

Campbell first struck in February 1998, when he assaulted a 27-year-old woman in her home while her three young children slept upstairs. A year later he falsely imprisoned a 12-year-old girl and indecently assaulted a 15-year-old. In May 2000 he raped a 21-year-old woman, after which police began a manhunt.

Officers carried out a mass DNA screening of local men, but Campbell did not fall into their target group - partly because his home was half a mile outside the area where detectives believed that the rapist was living. When he was finally tested his sample was placed in a freezer but was never sent away for analysis.

Two years later, in August 2004, he raped two 15-year-old girls in the back of his van. A month before that, he had sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl while her younger sister slept in the same double bed.

In September 2006 a cold case review discovered the untested DNA and it was analysed. Jeremy Paine, assistant chief constable of Sussex Police, said that there were "no excuses" for the four-year delay in catching Campbell. "It should not have happened and we are very sorry that it did," he said. "We have done everything we can to learn the lessons so that nothing like it can happen again."

A police spokesman said that changes to the law surrounding DNA samples, as well as new procedures, would prevent the error being repeated. He said that one senior officer and one member of police staff, whom he refused to name, had received formal words of advice.

Women's campaigners condemned the police response as inadequate. Ruth Hall, of Women Against Rape, called for those responsible to be sacked. "Not just the one officer who didn't send off the sample, but those who are responsible for closing the inquiry down . . . and not ensuring that there were regular checks made, and an open mind kept. They left women defenceless against this man. "We have had inquiry after inquiry, law change after law change, and nothing ever happens, because until these people are held accountable, nobody takes it seriously."

Maggie Ellis, director of Chichester's Life Centre, which offers counselling and support to victims of sexual violence, described the DNA oversight as "a human error with disastrous consequences". Campbell was found guilty of 13 offences between 1998 and 2004, and acquitted of one count of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault. Police believe he may have struck several more times, beginning as early as 1995.

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Lazy Australian police ignore a murder

Getting police to investigate ANYTHING (unless you start smoking in a bar, or criticize homosexuality, of course) is an uphill battle in both Australia and Britain these days. Only constant pressure from relatives in this case finally got justice

It was a beautiful summer's evening and the moon was up. Too beautiful to be identifying bodies at the Glebe Morgue. About 10 pm on Sunday, January 9, 2000, Alan Urwin and his wife, Margaret, cigarettes in hand, stood at the back entrance of the morgue. They were still in shock after identifying Margaret's sister and brother-in-law, Pam, 50, and Bill Weightman, 51, who had been killed in a car accident earlier that day. As they stood bewildered in the laneway, Mr Urwin remarked that the Weightmans looked like they'd been in a fight rather than a car accident. "Pam's hair was matted," he said, "and Bill looked as though he'd been punched in the mouth and the eye."

Just before 10am a park ranger had found their car down an embankment off Pipeline Road, which runs off Heathcote Road, near Heathcote in Sydney's south. According to post-mortems which were conducted on the Monday morning, Mr Weightman had been found squashed under the steering wheel, not wearing a seat belt. He had a number of bruises on his arms and legs. Mrs Weightman was sitting in the passenger seat of the vehicle held up by her seatbelt with her head resting against the front passenger window.

"There were no skid marks on the road approaching the embankment and no damage to the guard rail before the entrance," recorded a forensic pathologist, Dr Allan Cala. He also said: "There was minor damage to the front of the vehicle but otherwise the vehicle appeared intact." While noting extensive bruising on Mrs Weightman's arms, as well as Mr Weightman's legs and arms, fractures in the bones of his neck and traces of sleeping tablets in both, Dr Cala concluded there "was no positive evidence to indicate foul play at this point in time".

The Urwins had been called to identify the bodies because police had been unable to locate the Weightmans' only child, David, 20, who lived with his adoptive parents in Glen Alpine in Sydney's south-west. At 3am on that Monday, the Urwins finally tracked down their nephew at a friend's house. Mrs Urwin was sobbing as she tried to tell Weightman that his parents were dead. But she received no response. As she recalled: "He sort of shrugged his shoulders and then Richard [Rehfeldt], one of his friends, put his arm around him and said, 'Are you all right, mate?'."

Weightman went home with his aunt and uncle. They found it odd that he didn't ask for any details about his parents' death. He knocked back a couple of whiskies and went to bed. At nine he rose asking for tea and toast. Later that day, he put his parents' house on the market. "He finds out at 3am his parents are dead. By two o'clock that same afternoon their house is up for sale," Mr Urwin said.

Later that afternoon, when the Urwins went round to the Weightmans' house, they noticed Mrs Weightman's jewellery, including her wedding ring, sitting by a computer. "She wouldn't go out without her wedding ring," Mrs Urwin said . Making them more concerned was that their beds had not been slept in.

Having viewed the accident scene, the Urwins were completely puzzled. Why would the Weightmans be driving in the Heathcote National Park, a long way from their home, late on a Saturday night or in the early hours of Sunday morning? And how had the accident happened given there were no skid marks? "I'm just a humble boilermaker, with no training of any detective work, but it looked wrong to me," Mr Urwin said.

The following day the Urwins went to the police to air their suspicions that their nephew had played a part in his parents' death. In her statement to police on January 11, Mrs Urwin said: "The accident all appears very strange to me, as I cannot imagine why they were on Heathcote Road, or how the accident could have possibly occurred." The police did not agree, telling the Urwins that the deaths were suspected to be suicide.

Mrs Urwin had trouble coping after the funeral. Her weight fell to 40 kilograms. A grief counsellor at Glebe Coroner's Court arranged a meeting with Dr Cala in April. The Urwins pointed out that Mrs Weightman's injuries appeared greater than her husband's, her hair was matted, every toe was bruised and yet it was Mr Weightman who wasn't wearing a seat belt.

Mr Urwin: "I said to Dr Cala, 'I feel a bit awkward saying this but I honestly feel that Pam and Bill were murdered and that David murdered them."' Mr Urwin recalled Dr Cala laughing, saying: "No, you're becoming paranoid. I can assure you that the bruising is consistent with the motor vehicle going down the embankment." The pair left feeling they had no alternative but to accept Dr Cala's explanation.

Not long after, Mr Urwin gave a copy of Dr Cala's report to a clerical worker in the police force to photocopy for him. "She came back and said, 'I think this couple was murdered and I think you should go to the police . I'm telling you he murdered them and he'll be coming after you and your family."' Mr Urwin kept pestering the police with his murder theories.

In mid-2001 Dr Cala was asked to review the case. He discovered he had made an "incredible error", as he later told a misconduct inquiry. When he concluded Mrs Weightman died of massive head injuries, he had been looking at someone else's brain. He claimed he had immediately contacted the coroner.

Other people went to the Campbelltown police with tales of Weightman boasting to friends that he had got away with his parents' murder, but still nothing happened.

The Urwins bought the house from Weightman after an unsuccessful marketing campaign. He went through $500,000 in two years on drugs, motorbikes and overseas travel. But the Urwins were always on his case, pestering him for details about his parents' deaths . Finally, in February 2004, four years after their death, Weightman admitted that he and a friend, Terry Donai, had killed them. He later admitted doing it because they would not let him buy a motorbike. "The motorbike," he said, "was the icing on the cake."

Weightman pleaded guilty and got a lighter sentence by lying to psychiatrists about hearing voices at the time of the murders. He also received a discount on his sentence for agreeing to give evidence against Donai.

This time the police did swing into action. Weightman's confession was suppressed and an undercover investigation was mounted. It took another two years for Donai to be arrested after confessing to an undercover police operative that he had helped dispose of the bodies. Later last year, a complaint by the Urwins led to Dr Cala being found guilty of professional misconduct over his handling of the case, although the Health Care Complaints Commission issued a suppression order on the case. It was lifted in June this year.

The Professional Standards Committee found that while Dr Cala had made a significant mistake, he was not alone in the bungling. "It was the Urwins' persistence, not police activity, that changed the outcome of the case."

Yesterday a jury found Donai guilty of the couple's murder, but that verdict has still not brought closure for the Urwins. "Why can't the police apologise to my wife and I?" Mr Urwin demanded. "When I left England in 1975 I thought I was coming to a First World country. Instead I've found a Third World police force." Why, he asked, "is the work of citizens to investigate the deaths of their relatives? . If it was not for my wife and I, two murderers would be in society today."

In a statement police yesterday acknowledged "errors in the original investigation". "Since then NSW Police has made significant changes to callout procedures for the Crash Investigation Unit and the management of crime scenes," the statement said.

Mr Urwin also said the Police Commissioner's office became involved in the court case against Donai to prevent the release of information about police operations. NSW police said legal advice showed complainants were not legally entitled to copies of the investigator's report or the Internal Review Panel papers.

A call by the Opposition Leader, Barry O'Farrell, for a full inquiry into the case has been dismissed by the Premier, Morris Iemma. In a letter to Mr O'Farrell, Mr Iemma wrote: "As the failings that occurred during the initial investigation have been acknowledged and addressed through numerous processes, I do not believe there would be any new information to be gained from another inquiry."

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Britain's paper police

THE southwest London suburb where I have lived for 17 years is what estate agents like to call an "exclusive oasis". Over the years it's been relatively crime-free and neighbourly. But lately "Barnes Village", like so many other communities, has proved it is not immune from the violence that besets modern Britain. A little more than a week ago I discovered just how dangerous it can be - and just how little the police are willing to do about it.

Tuesday

It was 11.30pm and we were on our way home, following a Ford Galaxy, when it stopped in the middle of our road, as is the habit in suburban London where parking is hard to find. There was actually a parking space opposite, but the occupants, a man and woman, sat chatting. Had it not been so late and the houses around in darkness, one would have given them a pip on the horn to move on.

We tried to squeeze past, but could not make it. So we sat in rising irritation as they ignored us. After a while he kissed her, got a bag out of the back and, instead of a gesture of apology or the usual raised hand of thanks, he looked at us with contempt.

We eventually found a place to park near our house. On a whim, I wandered back up the road. Perhaps I should have thought better of it, but I wanted to make a note of where this rude man, whom I had never seen before, lived.

To my surprise he was standing outside his open front door. "Next time, show some courtesy to your neighbours and have the decency to pull over," I said. It was, I admit, not gentle. It was not a request. It was the righteous demand of middle-aged, middle England wearing a suit and tie and wanting to get home after a long day. But it didn't deserve what followed.

He moved forward two steps, his right hand taking off his glasses and returning, unseen by me, as a sledgehammer blow on my right cheek. I was so stunned I didn't move. The follow-through, a second later, took my legs away.

I was still conscious, thank God, as he started kicking me as hard as he could. I knew I had to get up or I could be crippled, but as I rose he punched me down again. More kicks. I rose again and was punched down again. On the third attempt I got to my feet. He had stopped and was now in the road where his girlfriend's car had returned. I made a note of the house number and hurried away as best I could. The quiet tree-lined road of slumbering parents and children was deserted.

A police Tactical Response Unit came in about 10 minutes, asked a few questions, told me to go to hospital, but first to identify the house. It was in darkness. "We'll be back later, and if we are longer it's because we have made an arrest," the police constable told me. My assailant had had the good sense either to clear off or had turned out all the lights.
I apologised for my stupidity and recklessness in confronting a man late at night, although even today I would struggle to believe that the owner of a œ750,000 home in a quiet suburban neighbourhood would unleash such a violent attack. "Nobody deserves what happened to you," the constable said reassuringly. "If you see him, call the police, but don't confront him."

Wednesday

This evening the girlfriend's Ford was in the road and the house was ablaze with lights. My assailant certainly wasn't hiding now. I called the police, gave them the car's registration number, told them someone was home and was told to wait. At 10.30pm the constable called - he was back on duty, but their evening calls were already mounting up. "I am not the investigating officer, but if I get time I'll give him a knock," he said.

I gave him the names of the people listed at the address to see if they coincided with the registered owner of the vehicle. "Where did you obtain this information?" I pointed out that it was publicly available. What was the the police response? "I am warning you that you may be committing an offence under the Data Protection Act," he said.

Thursday

In the morning I saw the girlfriend in the street and she drove past me. I assumed the police would soon be making inquiries - they had an address, a name, and my account of the attack. But I heard nothing.

Friday

Having still heard nothing, I rang the police and spoke to a woman on the Crime Management Unit switchboard. She told me my case had not yet been transferred onto the correct computer system by the constable - and he was now off-duty for five days. She said she was transferring the incident to the Beat Crime Unit in Teddington, Middlesex; a sergeant, who was in charge there, would allocate it in a day or so.

Sunday

A friend called to tell me that his nephew, at university in sleepy Eastbourne, had been beaten up together with his housemates by a gang wielding knives who lived nearby. "They called the police, but they haven't done anything," he said. Still no word about my own incident.

Monday

I called the police again to inquire about progress - but now the sergeant was off-duty. Instead a detective constable said he would check the entry on the computer. I was beginning to wonder whether they would ever do anything. "You are in CID," I said. "We have a crime where we know where the suspect lives, and he appears to be living there openly - this must be the easiest crime in the world to clear up. And yet nothing seems to have been done."

You could almost hear the paperwork being pushed around. The detective replied: "The officers have got quite heavy workloads and there are other crimes that are equally easy to clear up, but they just mount up." That evening the TV news highlighted a report critical of the Metropolitan police for failing to act when a young father was attacked by a gang he had confronted; the gang eventually returned to kill him.

Saturday

Still no word from the police, no sign that my attacker will face any investigation. All my journalistic life I have worked with the police; as a result I have friends in the force and even belong to a Metropolitan Police recreational club. I know it can be a tough and dangerous job. But I also know many have retired in their mid or late forties on full pensions. Many others have left because "the job has become about filling in forms". It's so bad that last week Sir Ian Blair, the Met's commissioner, called for a "bonfire" of police paperwork and a return to the era portrayed in the TV series Life on Mars when justice was "quick and straightforward".

These days it's so slow I have still heard nothing from the police; my attacker is seemingly immune to prosecution; and surprisingly I have had no fewer than three offers from professional, middle-class friends to use someone they know who "sorts out problems like this". I do - did - believe in the police because the consequences of indulging in "citizen justice" are too terrifying to contemplate. But increasingly I am told by conservative, law-abiding people: "You can't rely on the police any more - they're useless."

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The disgraceful Jason Hill case was at least a catalyst for reform

THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION of Chiefs of Police won support from the federal and provincial attorneys general last fall when they opposed allowing persons who are wrongfully convicted to sue police alleging that they were victims of negligent investigations. Part of their argument, which was accepted by three Supreme Court of Canada judges, was that it would open the floodgates, with countless lawsuits being launched by persons acquitted of heinous crimes.

Thankfully, that postulation was rejected by six of the nine judges. Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin said the record provided "no basis for concluding that there will be a flood of litigation against the police if a duty of care is recognized," and at one point cited the contrary example of O. J. Simpson. Cleared of murder charges by a jury that had reasonable doubt as to his guilt, he was sued civilly by the victims' families, held liable for their "wrongful death," and ordered to pay millions of dollars in damages.

The court's decision, released last Thursday, was itself an illustration of how difficult it can be to establish that police negligence, rather than what the Chief Justice described in the case at bar as "an unfortunate series of events," was responsible for a wrongful conviction.

In the case that brought the issue to Canada's top court for a first time, Jason Hill found himself charged by Hamilton- Wentworth Regional Police with a string of 10 robberies in December 1994 and January 1995 attributed to "the plastic bag robber." Acting on a Crime Stoppers tip and eyewitnesses' description of the culprit, police arrested Mr. Hill, included the aboriginal in a photo lineup with similar-looking caucasians, and ultimately charged him with 10 counts of robbery.

Although two similar robberies occurred while Mr. Hill was in custody, he was ultimately tried on a single charge where two bank tellers were the key Crown witnesses. Found guilty, he won an appeal based on errors by the trial judge, and at the second trial was found not guilty, having by then spent a total of 20 months in jail. Meanwhile, police had arrested another suspect who looked remarkably like Mr. Hill, and ultimately was found responsible for the robberies.

Only time will tell how much the new 'tort' will be used, let alone whether the plaintiffs will be successful. And we'll never know whether the likes of Guy Paul Morin and David Milgaard would have been able to use it successfully. Until now, the wrongfully convicted have had some other potential remedies, such as the torts of false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and misfeasance in public office, but all carry a heavy burden of proof and are at least as hard to establish as medical malpractice.

In the majority judgment, Chief Justice McLachlin acknowledged that police have a duty to investigate crime and that in the vast majority of cases they carry out the duty with diligence and care. "Occasionally, however, mistakes are made. These mistakes may have drastic consequences. An innocent suspect may be investigated, arrested and imprisoned because of negligence in the course of a police investigation."

The issues raised by the case were whether police may be held liable if their conduct during the course of an investigation falls below an acceptable standard and results in harm to a suspect, and if so, what standard should be used to assess the conduct of the police. "More generally," the Chief Justice wrote, "is police conduct during the course of an investigation or arrest subject to scrutiny under the law of negligence at all, or should police be immune on public policy grounds from liability under the law of negligence?"

Concluding that police are not immune from liability under the Canadian law of negligence; that they owe a duty of care in negligence to suspects being investigated, and that their conduct during the course of an investigation should be measured against the standard of how a reasonable officer in like circumstances would have acted, she agreed with the trial judge in the Hill case and the Ontario Court of Appeal that the tort of negligent investigation does indeed exist. However, she cautioned that the law of negligence "does not demand a perfect investigation. It requires only that police conducting an investigation act reasonably. When police fail to meet the standard of reasonableness, they may be accountable through negligence law for harm resulting to a suspect."

That strikes us as appropriate, and we hope the Chief Justice is right in predicting that the only consequence of the ruling will be more careful police investigations. For instance, it should mean that when the best evidence is from eyewitnesses, police investigators should resist the temptation to concentrate the probe on a single suspect who happens to fit the description, and should look closely at any exculpatory evidence such as an alibi or inconsistent results from a photo lineup. True, the decision may make police work tougher, but it should also reduce the risk of wrongful convictions.

Chief Justice McLachlin says the police officer's task will be to "strike a reasonable balance between cautiousness and prudence on the one hand, and efficiency on the other. Files must be closed, life must move on, but care must also be taken." All the tort requires, she wrote, "is that the police act reasonably in the circumstances."

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More background

A wrongly convicted Ontario man who established a legal principle for much of Canada but failed to win damages from police is asking the province to compensate him voluntarily for his 1995 arrest and 20 months he spent in jail.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed an appeal by Jason Hill, who sued Hamilton police, claiming they acted maliciously and negligently in fingering him for a series of bank robberies.

In its 6-3 ruling, however, the court said police can be sued for negligent investigations. That ruling upholds the law already in place in Ontario and Quebec, but will mean a change for the rest of the country. "The police are not immune from liability under the law of negligence and the tort of negligent investigation exists in Canada," Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote in the ruling. "Police officers owe a duty of care to suspects."

Unfortunately for Hill, the top court upheld lower-court judgments that said the Hamilton investigation did not cross the line. "In this case, the police officers' conduct, considered in light of police practices at the time, meets the standard of a reasonable officer in similar circumstances," the ruling said. [It was not negligent to make him stand out like a sore thumb in a police lineup??? The witnesses were looking for a native guy and he was the only native guy there! I would have called it malice aforethought]

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Australia: Muslim pedophile verdict to be appealed

What was the scum doing in bed with an 11-year-old boy if he is not a pedophile?

THE Director of Public Prosecutions has been ordered to appeal the sentence given to a medical student, who walked free from court after pleading guilty to attempting to indecently assault an 11-year-old boy. Shakeel Mirza, 26, was given 12-months probation and had no conviction recorded, after admitting to attempting to "massage the boy's penis".

The District Court was told the offence came about as a result of Mirza volunteering for community group Aunties and Uncles - a mentoring organisation for families in need. On the day of the incident, Mirza, the 11-year-old complainant and his brother were watching TV while lying on a single bed when the accused massaged the boy's head before saying "this would feel better if I did it on your penis". But the boy said no and pushed his hand away and the incident stopped.

There was said to be no planning involved in the incident and Mirza, who provided glowing references to the court, has no criminal history. His lawyer characterised the offending as a moment of stupidity -- a description accepted by Judge Searles. Mirza reportedly said the offence was almost done in a "joking" fashion.

But Attorney-General Kerry Shine said after reviewing the transcript of the sentencing remarks, and receiving advice from the office of the DPP, he had ordered an appeal be lodged.

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Britain: Bent cop loses

A journalist who suggested that a former police officer may be corrupt was cleared of libel in the Court of Appeal yesterday. In a victory that strengthens the media’s right to report on matters that are in the public interest, the appeal judges said that Graeme McClagan had acted responsibly in his research for the book Bent Coppers.

Michael Charman, who was a detective constable in the Metropolitan Police, claimed that it was libellous because it suggested that there were grounds for suspecting him of involvement in corruption.

The judges ruled unanimously that Mr McLagan had taken steps to verify the story and that as a result of his honesty, his expertise, his careful research and evaluation of the material, his book was protected by a defence of “public interest”. It is thought to be the first time that the defence has been argued successfully for a book.

Caroline Kean, who acted for Mr McLagan and his publishers, Orion, said: “For too long newspapers and book publishers have been deterred from publishing serious investigative journalism by the threat of incredibly complex and expensive libel proceedings if they made the slightest error. This judgment is a breath of fresh air.”

Mr McLagan said: “Exposing police corruption is obviously in the public interest, and was recognised by the trial judge, the Appeal Court and even Mr Charman’s own defence team.” He was surprised that the Police Federation had supported Mr Charman, a man who had to resign for “discreditable conduct”. The federation would have to pay at least 1 million pounds in costs.

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Protecting the Innocent Through Technology

In a just society, acquitting the innocent is no less important than convicting the guilty. The principle that an accused person is to be presumed innocent until proven guilty is, therefore, fundamental to our American sense of justice. Americans generally believe that the innocent should be protected at all costs, and this includes making every possible effort to avoid punishing them for crimes of which they are not guilty.

This emphasis on protecting the innocent is based on a long Western tradition. It was foreshadowed by Exodus 23:7, "Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty." (NIV) Even in the early days of Israel, God clearly emphasized the importance of protecting the innocent.

Sir John Fortescue, an English jurist, believed that every effort should be made to give the benefit of the doubt to the accused: "Who, then, in England, can be put to death unjustly for any crime? Since he is allowed so many pleas and privileges in favor of life. None but his neighbors, men of honest and good repute, against whom he can have no probable cause of exception, can find the person accused guilty. Indeed, one would much rather that twenty guilty persons should escape punishment of death than that one innocent person should be condemned and suffer capitally."

William Blackstone, famous for his four volume Commentaries on the Laws of England published between 1765-1769, explained that "the law holds that it is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer." He viewed the protection of the innocent as far more important than the condemnation of the guilty. This idea is the basis of the principle that the accused is innocent until proven guilty. It is not enough that people be suspicious of one man's conduct, or even that they believe he probably committed a wrongful act. No, a man must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to have committed a crime in order to be convicted.

In 1895, the United States Supreme Court affirmed the importance of protecting the innocent in the case of Coffin v. U.S. The Court believed that the presumption of innocence was so important that it reversed a lower ruling and required a new trial for the defendant because the lower court judge hadn't made it clear to the jury that the accused was to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Developments in science are helping to advance the protection of the innocent in America's courts and to overturn convictions that were wrongfully obtained. Thanks to advances in DNA technology, those who have been mistakenly convicted in the past can sometimes be exonerated and set free through the presentation of DNA evidence. Since 1989, post-conviction exoneration has been achieved in 208 cases, 145 having occurred after 2000. This technological leap has greatly assisted our ability to pursue justice and protect the innocent.

Seventy-seven percent of the 208 wrongful convictions were the result of misidentification by witnesses. As a trial lawyer, I can attest that eyewitness observations are often fraught with error. The stress of exigent circumstances, the vantage point of one's view, difficulties with seeing or hearing, and the power of suggestion can adversely influence one's perception and memory of observed events. Sadly, these flawed observations sometimes lead to wrongful convictions. Thankfully, however, some of those who were wrongly condemned now have hope through post-conviction access to DNA evidence. Forty-two states currently give prisoners access to DNA evidence in some form, in order to further their ability to defend themselves against wrongful convictions.

This new technology doesn't just protect the innocent-it can also help to determine the guilty. Out of the 208 exonerations mentioned above, suspects or the true perpetrators have been identified in 77 cases.

DNA technology is helping to further the cause of justice by correcting occasional failings due to human perception, memory or manipulation. The men who have been exonerated had already spent, on average, 12 years in prison-a sobering statistic to anyone concerned with fashioning a just society.

All jurisdictions should embrace these scientific advances and incorporate them into their justice systems. While the possibility of a wrongful conviction can never be eliminated in its entirety, we must never cease in our quest to protect the innocent, even while convicting the guilty. A society cannot fairly call itself "just" unless it is vigilant to prevent and correct miscarriages of justice.

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Australian lawyers lashed over costs, delays

THE nation's top judge has launched an attack on cost and delay in the legal system, saying "intolerable" delays are now accepted in criminal cases and that expense is "the greatest blot" on the civil litigation landscape. High Court Chief Justice Murray Gleeson also urged judges to assert their authority over "well-resourced" parties who used the courts as "instruments of oppression".

Speaking to the Judicial Conference of Australia's annual meeting in Sydney, Chief Justice Gleeson said he wanted to put his thoughts on the record "with the directness that is the prerogative of age". The Chief Justice, who must step down on turning 70 next August, said everyone agreed criminal justice should be administered with reasonable speed. "Yet modern criminal justice moves at a pace very different from that of earlier, or even fairly recent times," he said. "Time standards now accepted as reasonable would have been regarded as intolerable ... 30 years ago. Forty years ago, a long trial was one that lasted more than two days; now, at the end of a second day, counsel are just getting warmed up." He said it was "easy to become desensitised" to the issue. "Delay, like inflation, is sometimes convenient for those who are part of the system," he added.

Chief Justice Gleeson noted state governments had intervened to cut back vehicle or work-related actions, which were invariably run by lawyers who were on a percentage of any settlement. However, he said the ability of people to make a living out of funding litigation might be a necessity. "There is a need for some pragmatism about this, because the cost of access to justice is essentially a practical matter," he said. "A basic problem of access to civil justice is the remorseless mercantilisation of legal practice." He added that time-based costing was part of the problem. "Because of the basis upon which most lawyers charge for their services, repeated interlocutory hearings add substantially to the cost of litigation," Chief Justice Gleeson said. "Interlocutory procedures ... sometimes involve astonishing expense. Such is their cost, they may even be used as instruments of oppression."

He said the length of the ordinary case was alarming but that for "well-resourced litigants, the time of judges is cheap".

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Australia: Plague of corrupt officers found in State police force

So the State government is abolishing the whistleblower!

SYNDICATES of corrupt officers, some with extensive links to organised crime, are operating within the Victorian police force under the protection of a "code of silence". The syndicates include long-serving officers with extensive influence within the force, and insome cases are run from outside the organisation by former members who had resigned while under investigation for corruption. Syndicates are also using their extensive network of contacts within the force to undermine attempts by senior officers to clean up corruption and are actively recruiting members.

In the most comprehensive assessment to date of the depth of corruption within Victoria Police, the Office of Police Integrity says poor supervision and a code of silence within the force have allowed the syndicates to flourish. "These groups appear to be organised hierarchically, with those at the top of the group often connected by long-standing relationships, some of which are inter-generational," the OPI says in a report tabled in state parliament yesterday. "Most of the syndicates have also joined forces with people who have significant criminal histories, including some individuals with extensive links to organised crime. Many of these relationships between police members and criminals are also long-standing."

The assessment comes just a day after the Brumby Government announced it was splitting the roles of the OPI and the Ombudsman to provide greater independence to the police corruption agency. It also appears to contradict repeated assurances from Victoria Police command that corruption was not a major problem within the force.

Based on intelligence gathered by OPI investigators during the past 12 months, the assessment says the corrupt syndicates shared a number of common features, including "promoting self-interest or personal profit" by working outside the law. "Sometimes the most influential member of a group is a former police officer who continues to connect with, and exert influence over, current serving members who are willing to engage in corrupt conduct," it says. The syndicates "sporadically" recruited new members from within the force, although often the recruits operated on the periphery and were not included in the "main game".

The OPI says it is not yet possible to determine the number of police involved in the corrupt syndicates, although it was probably only a small proportion of the force's 11,000 officers. The syndicates employ extensive contacts embedded throughout the force to create divisions within Victoria Police, and they use gossip and innuendo to undermine attempts to tackle corruption. Corrupt officers had learned how to work the system to their advantage and use the code of silence, which deterred honest police from informing on them. "These individuals have a vested interest in perpetuating myths about old-style policing and the 'good old days'; they are adept at rallying support to ensure the failure of management initiatives to improve professionalism and accountability within Victoria Police," the report says.

Having gathered intelligence on the syndicates, OPI director George Brouwer said he would now use "the full range of sophisticated investigative techniques at our disposal to expose and prosecute those involved". But officers had attempted to undermine previous investigations by lying under oath.

Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said he was not surprised at the OPI's findings. "We've never shied away from the fact that we believe there potentially is small elements within Victoria Police who engage in unethical and potentially corrupt behaviour," he said.

Police Association secretary Paul Mullett said the OPI report lacked substance and was simply aimed at justifying the agency's $16.5 million budget. But state Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu described the findings as alarming and said they proved the need for a broad-based anti-corruption commission in Victoria.

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Scottish Prosecutors 'blocking' appeal in murder case

Lawyer says Crown Office has withheld evidence that could clear his client after 30 years in jail

The lawyer representing Glasgow lorry driver Thomas Ross Young - who has served 30 years in Peterhead jail for killing bakery worker Frances Barker - says his bid to overturn his client's sentence is being obstructed by the Crown Office. Despite claims last month by Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini, in the Scottish Parliament, that the Crown Office had supplied information to aid the case against Young's 1977 conviction, his solicitor says he has received no material and no information of any kind that could help his client. Requests for access to any evidence that could help his client have also been rejected.

'I know there is material which undermines my client's conviction and I am being denied access to that,' solicitor John McLeod told The Observer. 'This a very worrying affair with serious implications for justice in Scotland. It was quite misleading to suggest in the Scottish Parliament that information had been given to me to help our case.'

A violent sexual inadequate who admitted using prostitutes, Young was accused of killing Barker in June 1977 after she had been abducted by a kerb crawler near her home in Maryhill Road, Glasgow. Her battered, strangled corpse was eventually discovered in a wood in Glenboig, Lanarkshire. Although Young protested his innocence throughout his trial, it took the jury at the High Court in Glasgow only an hour to return a guilty verdict on 26 October, 1977. He was jailed for a minimum of at least 30 years, the longest sentence ever imposed by a Scottish judge.

However, in 2005 an FBI profiler - asked by Strathclyde police to look at a series of murders of young women, including Barker, in the Seventies - concluded that one man was responsible for all of them. Crucially several of the women had been killed after Young had been jailed. This evidence had been gathered as part of last month's failed prosecution of Angus Sinclair for the World's End murders of Christine Eadie and Helen Scott but was never presented in court. It clearly implicated Sinclair in all the murders, including that of Barker - who lived only 40 yards from Sinclair's house - and suggested Young was innocent.

'I first learned there were doubts about Young's involvement in Barker's murder in 2005 when police asked if they could re-interview my client,' added McLeod. 'They asked him if he had really killed her. Yet that was supposed to have been established in the High Court in 1977. So why ask now? As for my client, he vehemently denied killing Barker.'

Later two officers involved in the World's End murder investigation told McLeod of the existence of evidence that linked Sinclair to Barker's murder and which suggested Young had been the victim of a miscarriage of justice. 'I then approached the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission and the Crown Office and asked to see this evidence. In both cases I was refused access to it, despite its immense importance to my client,' added McLeod.

When asked by The Observer why Angiolini had claimed that help had been provided to Young's solicitors, a Crown Office spokesperson said that it had indeed been given. 'We told Strathclyde police to tell Young's solicitors of the existence of new evidence that was important to Young's conviction for Barker's murder.' This statement did not impress McLeod, however. 'Basically they are telling me evidence exists that can help my client, but that I cannot find out what it is. To say this is assisting my client's appeal is extremely misleading. It is no use whatsoever, in fact.'

Young's case was further confused by a decision to charge him, on 23 September this year, with the murder of 17-year-old Patricia McAdam near Annan, Dumfries, in 1967. 'They have no body, no new evidence and no DNA to link Young with this case,' added McLeod. 'Yet they have decided to charge him. It is an utterly cynical move.'

A major problem affecting the Young case is that the authorities do not know what to do with him, said one senior legal source. Young is now 72 years old and suffers from a series of debilitating heart and blood illnesses. Caring for him in the community will be very difficult. In addition, if he is released, and if his appeal against his conviction for the Barker murder is upheld, Young would be due to receive a massive sum in compensation for his wrongful conviction. 'It would be so much simpler if Young was to die in jail,' said the source. 'That would make things so much easier for the authorities.'

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Texas: Incompetent DNA report deals HPD lab another blow. Man exonerated 14 years after rape conviction

Yet another false eyewitness identification too. His blackness seems to have been the main factor in convicting him. And the guilty party escapes, of course

Few people listened when Ronald Gene Taylor declared himself innocent of a rape charge 14 years ago. But the Harris County District Attorney's Office finally agreed with him Wednesday, acknowledging that the scandal-plagued Houston Police Department crime lab was responsible for sending yet another wrong person to prison. Incarcerated since being picked out of a lineup in June 1993, Taylor was exonerated by new DNA testing this summer that showed another man was guilty of the crime. Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said he was sickened when he got the news late last week of the wrongful conviction. "I feel awful," Rosenthal said. "Nobody wants to have an innocent person wrongfully convicted and sent to prison. It's a very regrettable thing."

The exoneration of the 47-year-old Taylor is another blow to the tattered reputation of the Houston Police Department crime lab, which has been rocked by scandal in recent years over the reliability of its testing and quality controls.

Rosenthal said he will work quickly toward Taylor's release and pardon. A hearing before state District Judge Denise Collins is scheduled for Oct. 12. Collins could release him on a personal recognizance bond at that time.

The testing was done at the request of the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal clinic that assists prisoners in getting DNA evidence reviewed. It has worked on the case since 1998, when it was contacted by Taylor's stepfather, who was pressing his son's claim of innocence. The HPD crime lab originally reported that a bed sheet it tested did not contain semen, a conclusion that led an appeals judge to deny a request for additional testing. Absent conclusive forensic evidence, Taylor's conviction was based on an eyewitness identification by the victim and the fact that he lived nearby. New tests on the sheet, done this summer by ReliaGene Technologies, yielded the DNA profile not of Taylor but another convicted sex offender serving time in Texas prisons. The statute of limitations for prosecuting that case has expired, Rosenthal said.

Rosenthal said the victim's bad ID was understandable. "The two men are remarkably similar in appearance," he said. "One can see how a mistake in identification can be made." According to Taylor's lawyers, the victim never got a good look at her attacker. She felt some of his features and saw him briefly as he was fleeing her apartment. That glimpse came in a dark room lit only by a nearby street light. She viewed the lineup in the presence of one police officer without witnesses or attorneys for the defendant, Taylor's lawyers claim. While watching the video, the victim suddenly recalled that the perpetrator had a tooth missing - not part of her initial description - and she identified Taylor, who had been placed in the lineup because a neighbor interviewed by police recalled seeing him in the area the night of the assault.

The Innocence Project has been critical of convictions based primarily on eyewitness identification by strangers. Bolstered by numerous studies that show the fallibility of such IDs, it has called for major changes in the ways police departments present lineups to crime victims.

Taylor, the eldest of five children who were raised near Huntsville, had moved to Houston about six months before the May 1993 attack in which he was accused, according to his mother, Dorothy Henderson. "We had concerns from the beginning that this was a case of mistaken identification," said Shelton Sparks, the attorney who handled Taylor's appeal. "But we did not pursue DNA testing because we did not believe there was any evidence to be tested based on the (HPD analyst's) testimony at trial."

As Taylor served his sentence in a prison in Tennessee Colony, his family worked to prove he had been wrongly convicted. They got lucky when the Innocence Project agreed to take on the case. "He always said that he was innocent, and I kept the faith that one day it would come through that it was not him," Henderson said. "We have suffered so much, but soon, now, when I can hug him and know that he is free, we will have peace." Henderson plans to attend next week's court hearing, after which she hopes to take him home to Huntsville "for a home-cooked meal."

Assistant District Attorney Jack Roady said he will work with Innocence Project lawyers to agree on findings of fact to present to Collins. If she signs off on them, Taylor's habeas corpus petition will be presented to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for final action. Assuming Taylor is granted a pardon based on innocence, he would be eligible for compensation from the state at a rate of $50,000 per year of incarceration, for a total of $600,000 or more.

Taylor's is the third conviction to crumble since scrutiny of work from the Houston crime lab began late in 2002 after news reports and an audit exposed poorly trained personnel and inaccurate work in the DNA division. Two other men were released from prison after new DNA tests discredited HPD's analyses. Josiah Sutton was released from prison in March 2003 when DNA tests challenged the HPD work that helped secure his conviction in a 1998 rape. Sutton received a pardon on the basis of innocence and the state has compensated him with more than $118,000 for the time he served. George Rodriguez served more than 17 years in prison in the 1987 rape of a 14-year-old girl before new forensic evidence discredited the HPD crime lab work on his case and led prosecutors to dismiss the case against him.

Since HPD's crime lab problems first came to light, errors have been found in several types of analyses, including those of firearms and of controlled substances, casting doubt on thousands of convictions and unsettling the local justice system. Faulty evidence in the cases against Rodriguez and Taylor included serology, the science of typing body fluids that was a precursor to DNA testing. Independent investigators who studied the crime lab over 26 months and issued a final report in June have called the work of the HPD serology division among the most troubling and problematic work from the crime lab. Their scientists identified about 180 cases in which HPD serology work had "major issues" and called for a review of those cases to determine whether the forensic evidence played an essential role in securing convictions. Taylor's case was not among those highlighted in the report. The serologist who handled Taylor's case worked in the lab from 1993 until 1996.

The investigative team recommended the appointment of an independent "special master" to review those cases. Local officials rejected the proposal. Instead, HPD and the district attorney's office have begun their own reviews of those cases. Barry Scheck, a founder of the Innocence Project, said Taylor's case should highlight the need for a systematic review. "The Ronald Taylor case ought to be a galvanizing example of what has to be done to correct the historical injustices that have occurred because of the Houston crime lab," Scheck said.

Scheck, other lawyers and local elected officials have begun working on a proposal to form a panel of lawyers to review these cases. Rosenthal was receptive to the idea of such a panel, Scheck said, and the lawyers have contacted the presiding judge over Harris County's courts, state District Judge Debbie Mantooth Stricklin, about how to proceed with the proposal. "There has got to be an expeditious way to go through these cases and determine whether more testing is possible and appropriate," Scheck said. "That sort of vetting requires expertise, competence and an infrastructure to do that."

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Australia: Girls returned to 'hell'

AFTER three years in foster care, three little girls have been returned to a "living hell" because of the "bloody mindedness" of three Children's Court magistrates, according to Foster Care Queensland. The girls' foster father has described the heart-wrenching and traumatic reunification in his own words, see below, after the sisters were sent back to their mother after an administrative error by the Child Safety Department. "The department had intended to seek another two-year protection order to keep the girls in care but a mix-up with the dates saw them returned to their birth mother, literally overnight," the foster father said at the weekend.

Child safety officers tried three times to have an interim order granted. However, on each occasion, the sitting magistrate refused on the basis the original order had expired. The foster father said he did not blame Child Safety for the predicament but felt the system had failed the girls. "The case workers have done a brilliant job. It's the Children's Court that has let them down. These magistrates have sent these kids back to a living hell," he said.

FCQ president Bryan Smith said the repeated refusal of three different magistrates to grant the order was nothing but "bloody mindedness" on their part and amounted to a "systematic abuse of the children concerned". "They (the magistrates) only look at what the letter of the law says, rather than the needs of the children," Mr Smith said. He called for the magistrates to be "dragged out of court" and shown the conditions in which the girls now live. "They have absolutely no understanding of child protection. If they actually saw the children we see, with broken jaws and broken arms, burn marks, teeth and fingernails pulled out, perhaps they would judge these cases differently," he said.

Child Safety Minister Margaret Keech was unable to comment directly on the case but admitted her department was not "above the law and officers had to abide by the decisions of the courts". "In cases where the department believes children could be at risk as a result of a court's decision to return them to their natural parents, there are avenues of appeal," Mrs Keech said. Mr Smith said child safety officers were preparing a fourth appeal aimed at returning the three girls to their foster family. "The department would not be going to this much effort if it wasn't deeply concerned for the girls' safety," he said.

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Super-lawyers finally getting caught

William Lerach was riding high more than a decade ago when Rep. Christopher Cox accused him of practicing “legalized piracy on the high seas of the new economy.” It looked like the “pirate” had won when he persuaded President Clinton to veto a bill sponsored by the San Diego Republican aimed at reigning in crusading liability lawyers like Lerach.

Cox, who is now chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, got his bill passed over Clinton’s veto, yet Lerach went on during the following decade to make hundreds of millions of dollars suing and threatening to sue corporate giants like Enron, AOL/Time Warner and WorldCom, among others.

But Lerach will soon report to prison, a convicted felon for his admitted involvement in a tawdry kickback scheme that federal prosecutors say, beginning in 1979 resulted in more than $200 million in tainted legal fees from at least 150 cases being paid to Milberg Weiss, his former New York law firm. Lerach left the firm and started his own in San Diego in 2004.

The firm funneled the payments to a stable of individuals who often became lead plaintiffs, putting them in a position to recommend lawyers to be designated by the court as lead counsel, which typically received the largest share of fees and cost reimbursements.

Government investigators claim the kickback scheme’s fee structure was purposely designed as a percentage of whatever the firm ultimately received in a case, which effectively provided the cooperating plaintiffs with incentive to side with the firm on issues critical to the outcome.

Critics claim the case is evidence of widespread corruption and abuses of the liability lawsuit process that undermine the credibility of the nation’s courts, cause irreparable financial harm to thousands of honest companies, investors and employees, and, according to the Pacific Research Institute, cost consumers more than $865 billion annually.

Lerach will serve up to two years in prison, where he may perhaps recall saying of liabilities lawyers in a 2002 Nation magazine interview that “we may not be perfect, but we are not corruptible.” Three other main players in the Milberg Weiss kickback scheme have also admitted guilt and entered into plea bargains with the government:

» David Bershad, the former managing partner who the government said kept bundles of cash in a safe in his office. Bershad was the first of the Milberg Weiss partners to cooperate with federal officials.

» Steven Schulman, who federal prosecutors said met one of the kickback recipients at a Howard Johnson’s restaurant and passed the cash to him under the table, literally.

» Steven Cooperman, a former Beverly Hills eye doctor, who prosecutors said received more than $6.4 million in kickbacks from Milberg Weiss in at least 70 cases that generated more than $133 million in fees for the firm.

Melvyn Weiss, one of the New York firm’s co-founders, has refused a plea bargain and faces prosecution on four criminal charges in connection with the kickback scheme that could result in his spending up to 40 years in prison. Weiss insists that he is innocent and vows to summon to his defense “all of the energy and talent that has made him one of the most outstanding members of the bar for more than 40 years,” according to one of his lawyers.

The plea bargains and Weiss trial cap a seven-year government investigation that first gained momentum last year when another kickback recipient, New Jersey businessman Howard Vogel, became dissatisfied with the firm and began cooperating with prosecutors. Vogel pleaded guilty to lying to a court about payments he received from Milberg Weiss. The investigation not only caught several Milberg Weiss major partners, it also resulted in the government for the first time ever applying federal anti-racketeering statutes against a law firm. Last May, the firm was named in a 20-count indictment that remains outstanding.

Milberg Weiss virtually invented the liability suit as a legal tool for challenging alleged wrongdoing at many of the nation’s most famous Fortune 500 corporations, including AT&T, Microsoft, Prudential Insurance, Sears & Roebuck and WorldCom. At times in recent years, more than half of all securities litigation was filed by the firm. Theodore Frank, director of the Legal Center for the Public Interest at the American Enterprise Institute, points to the Milberg Weiss indictments and guilty pleas as persuasive evidence of widespread corruption in the liability lawsuit process. “The kickback scheme confirms decades-old suspicions about class-action litigation practice,” Frank told The Washington Examiner. “There are certainly other cases out there where the lead ‘client’ signed off on settlements that benefited only the lawyers, and other law firms who have repeatedly used the same lead plaintiff.”

James Copland, who heads The Manhattan Institute’s Center for Legal Policy, says the corruption extends to expert witnesses and other witnesses. He points to the 249-page opinion of U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack in a 2005 case involving thousands of plaintiffs claiming lung damage as a result of exposure to purified silica — more commonly known as “sand” — that is used in fiberglass, ceramics and glass.

After reviewing thousands of diagnoses by doctors who admitted during trial either to never having interviewed claimants or spending only cursory time with them, Graham said “truth and justice had very little to do with these diagnoses, they were manufactured for money.”

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Police can be sued for sloppy investigations, Canadian Supreme Court rules

Let's hope this spreads to other jurisdictions

The Supreme Court of Canada yesterday stripped police of their immunity from lawsuits for conducting negligent criminal investigations. In a 6-3 ruling, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin expressed her hope that by making police vulnerable to civil action, it will induce investigators to avoid being careless or reckless when they investigate crimes. "While the vast majority of police officers perform their duties carefully and reasonably, the record shows that wrongful convictions traceable to faulty police investigations occur," she wrote for the majority. "Even one wrongful conviction is too many, and Canada has had more than one."

For the appellant - Jason George Hill - it was a case of winning the war of principle, yet losing a personal battle. The court threw out his lawsuit against the Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Police, saying that a robbery investigation that led to Mr. Hill's arrest and incarceration was in keeping with police standards of the day. Mr. Hill was imprisoned for 20 months for a string of robberies in the late 1990s. He was exonerated only after the real robber was found and convicted.

Mr. Hill's lawyers, Sean Dewart and Louis Sokolov, predicted yesterday that municipalities and their insurers will begin to insist on better police training in order to head off future lawsuits. "This is a very good day for police accountability in Canada," Mr. Sokolov said. "The Supreme Court stated in resounding language that police are no different from the rest of us, and can be sued if they do their jobs negligently."

A couple of provinces - notably Quebec - currently permit lawsuits for negligent investigation. Others, such as Alberta and New Brunswick, have been adamantly opposed to allowing them lest they compromise police investigations. Yesterday's ruling featured a tough stand-off between the majority and three dissenting judges - Madam Justice Louise Charron, Mr. Justice Michel Bastarache and Mr. Justice Marshall Rothstein - who predicted dire consequences for policing and society in general. "A private duty of care owed by the police to suspects would necessarily conflict with an officer's overarching public duty to investigate crime and apprehend offenders," Judge Charron wrote. She noted that individuals who are acquitted of crimes are not necessarily innocent, but escaped responsibility because police and prosecutors could not prove their culpability. They may enjoy an unwarranted financial windfall if they can then sue the police, she said.

Kirk Boggs, a Toronto lawyer who frequently represents police, predicted that police will find themselves targeted in costly, nuisance lawsuits that harm their reputations and tie them up in court for years. These cases will inevitably feature a great deal of conflicting expert testimony about what investigative steps were or were not sound, he said. "As an officer, you might just turn your head the other way, rather than risk the possibility of a lawsuit and spending time in court," Mr. Boggs said in an interview.

However, Chief Justice McLachlin said that police, like doctors or lawyers, must be expected to live up to a reasonable standard of conduct toward those whose lives are in their hands. "The relationship is clearly personal, close and direct," she said. "The targeted suspect has a critical personal interest in the conduct of an investigation. At stake are his freedom, his reputation and how he may spend a good portion of his life."

Chief Justice McLachlin dismissed any notion that police will begin to shy away from charging suspects unless they have an airtight case. "Discretion, hunch and intuition have their proper place in police investigation," she said. "However, to characterize police work as completely unpredictable and unbound by standards of reasonableness is to deny its professional nature."

Bradley Berg, a lawyer for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association in the case, emphasized yesterday that police will not be held to a standard of perfection. "As the chief justice acknowledges in the majority reasons, it is conceivable that the police might become more careful after this decision, but that's not necessarily a bad thing," he said.

Mr. Dewart praised the majority for exposing the "vacuous, nonsensical" argument that police may become afraid to do their jobs. "Is there a slippery slope for neurosurgeons, who don't do surgery because they might be sued?" he asked.

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Class-action crimes and the ABA

Lawyers have a sworn duty to uphold their clients’ interests and protect the integrity of the justice system as officers of the court. Despite this fact, ethics and justice have taken a back seat recently, as lawyer misbehavior, especially among the luminaries of the plaintiffs’ class-action bar, is on the rise. Amid the indictments, guilty pleas and lawsuits against lawyers by former clients, the silence of the legal profession’s self-regulators — the American Bar Association (ABA) and state bar authorities — has been deafening.

They’ve stood mute, for instance, in the face of the indictment of the Milberg Weiss law firm and the guilty pleas of several former partners, including notorious class-action lawyer Bill Lerach. Lerach and indicted former partner Melvyn Weiss allegedly exploited free enterprise and their own clients for decades, redistributing millions of dollars of shareholders’ and pensioners’ wealth to their own pockets.

Prosecutors brought charges against the firm and its members for alleged kickbacks not at the insistence of bar authorities, but on their own initiative. This is only one of many recent examples in which prosecutors and even former clients have acted to hold trial lawyers accountable for their abusive and illegal acts. Last month, a federal judge fined and incarcerated a prominent Mississippi trial lawyer and two state judges for bribery and racketeering. From the bench, the judge bemoaned that “Lady Justice must be sobbing.”

Yet another federal judge ordered three Kentucky lawyers jailed pending their trial on charges of fraudulently withholding settlement funds to clients in their phen-fen diet-drug class action. During a hearing, the judge fumed, “Not only these three gentlemen are on trial, the whole legal profession is on trial.” In addition, trial lawyer Dickie Scruggs, made rich and famous through asbestos and tobacco litigation, is facing criminal scrutiny. In support of an insurance coverage class action, Scruggs received documents secretly copied by two former employees of a State Farm claims adjuster. The adjuster sued the former employees, and a federal judge ordered that the documents be returned. Upon Scruggs’ refusal to comply, judicially appointed special prosecutors charged him with criminal contempt.

Lawyers specializing in mass asbestos and silica litigation have also felt the wrath of judges and former clients in recent years. In 2005, federal Judge Janis Graham Jack blew the whistle on rampant manufacturing of silica claims, ordering thousands of suits to be dismissed. Her actions inspired congressional and federal criminal investigations of silica and asbestos litigation. More than 2,500 blue-collar workers, who were part of several asbestos lawyers’ “inventory” of plaintiffs, are suing their former lawyers in a Pittsburgh federal court for fraud. Opportunities for abuse abound in the lucrative area of securities class actions. Cookie-cutter fraud complaints are filed on behalf of hundreds of shareholders and pensioners, with only “lead plaintiffs” and their lawyers representing their interests.

If Lerach and Milberg Weiss gained advantage in the countless lawsuits they have been accused of filing through illegal means, the allegations in the criminal indictment could be just the tip of the iceberg. Wronged clients, such as pension funds, and targeted companies could have strong arguments for restitution, and perhaps further investigation would reveal more widespread criminal activity. At least one civil racketeering suit has been filed against Milberg Weiss by another class-action lawyer.

Not only has the organized bar been sadly quiet in the face of this misconduct, but self-styled “consumer protection” activist groups have been MIA as well. They must be too busy concocting new lawsuits with their plaintiffs’ bar allies to be concerned about holding rogue lawyers accountable. Who can we count on to protect us from Litigation Inc.’s bad apples? Criminal enforcement is appropriate and necessary, but it is far too cumbersome an approach to effectively control lawyer abuses or set standards.

Consumer protection regulators either can’t or won’t safeguard class-action members who are in essence being robbed at pen point by certain class-action lawyers. If any other industry charged a nationally uniform contingent fee, or peddled its services through dangerously misleading ads, it would be investigated or prosecuted. Inexcusably, the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general don’t seem troubled when plaintiffs’ lawyers do it.

Bar authorities jealously guard their power to police lawyers. ABA leaders certainly never shy away from advancing “justice” as they see it. But when it comes to protecting legal consumers and enforcing ethical rules, bar authorities have been indifferent or inadequate. The legal profession has been deeply tainted, and Americans’ trust in civil justice is waning. Isn’t it time for independent oversight and accountability for America’s multibillion-dollar litigation industry?

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Amazing: No penalty for Muslim pervert -- free to work with children!

From Australia:

A medical student who tried to give an 11-year-old boy a "penis massage" will be allowed to undertake pediatric training as part of his degree after a Brisbane judge spared him a criminal conviction. Defence counsel for Pakistani-born Shakee Mirza, 27, this morning suggested the would-be doctor may have been inspired to touch the boy's genitals after watching sci-fi comedy film Spaceballs.

Mirza, a University of Queensland student in Australia on a study visa, was charged in February last year with attempted indecent treatment of a child. The District Court was told he had been assigned as a mentor to his victim's younger brother in 2005 by the Lions Club of Queensland under its "Aunties and Uncles" program for at-risk youth. Mirza was booted out of the scheme several months later because the organisation felt he had become too close to the family. But Crown prosecutor Vicki Loury said the part-time school tutor continued to have contact with the boys at their mother's invitation and would visit several times a week. He was also given permission to sleep in their beds.

The court heard Mirza had been watching television in a bedroom with his victim and had been massaging the child's head when he told the youngster "it would feel better" if he massaged his penis instead. The child said no, but Mirza tried to force his hands down his pants and was only stopped when the boy pushed his hand away. Despite pleading guilty to the offence, Mirza today escaped a jail term and a criminal conviction after his lawyers convinced Judge David Searles that it would ruin his future medical career, including a compulsory pediatric rotation as part of his degree. He had also donated much of his spare time to charity work and had never been in trouble before.

"Given my client's impeccable background ... he really can't offer much of an explanation," defence barrister Brad Farr said of the incident, which he stressed did not involve actual contact with the child's penis. "It was almost done in a joking fashion. "Coincidentally, they were watching a movie called Spaceballs - whether that put the idea in his head, I don't know."

Mirza was sentenced to 12 months' probation. Outside court, the boy's mother said the lack of a recorded criminal conviction meant Mirza could keep his blue card - or security clearance - allowing him close contact with children. "We've now placed our community at high risk," the woman, who cannot be identified, told the media. "I definitely feel he should have been stripped of his blue card, because the blue card allows him to become a doctor and a pediatrician." She also blasted the organisers of the "Aunties and Uncles" program for not properly "screening" mentor candidates before placing them in people's homes. "They've wiped their hands clean," she said.

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Australia: Only two years for a string of vicious rapes?

Lots of women will suffer because of this irresponsible sentencing decision

A sex predator who terrorised a north Queensland town was jailed last week after a five-year merry-go-round of court appearances, trials and appeals. Serial rapist Daniel Cris Phillips, 23, was 16 when he committed his first rape in 2000 in Innisfail where he lived with his family, who run one of Australia's largest barramundi farms.

His predatory behaviour did not come to light until November 2001, when a girl, 15, told police he had raped her in a vacant farmhouse on one of his parents' Innisfail properties. After investigating the attack, police said he had allegedly raped four other teenage girls. Phillips, whose appearance earned him the nickname of "Caveman" or "Cavie", was charged with five counts of rape in September 2002 and, despite objections, was released on bail a month later.

While on bail in May 2003, Phillips allegedly attempted to rape an 18-year-old girl at his parents' home at Burbank in Brisbane. The woman, now 22, told The Sunday Mail: "I had no idea he was on bail for rape. "(After) I got very antisocial ... I stopped eating and looking after myself ... everyone I met was a potential rapist." Phillips' mother stopped the alleged attack. He was charged with attempted rape and was returned to custody awaiting trial for it and the Innisfail rapes.

In August 2003, despite objections from prosecutors, the Cairns Supreme Court released him on conditional bail. In March 2004 he was convicted of three counts of rape, assault with intent to rape and two counts of unlawful carnal knowledge. He was acquitted of two other sex offence charges, but jailed for a total of 12 years, reduced to 10 years on appeal. Judge Peter White said Phillips showed "callous disregard for the rights of the young women, going to the absolute integrity of their persons".

Former detective Sean Luke, who resigned last year after more than 20 years in the police force, said Phillips might have ended up killing his victims if he had not been stopped. "He never believed he did anything wrong, never showed any remorse for what he did to those girls. And then when he was released on bail, he raped again. Nothing seemed to stop him," said Mr Luke.

In March 2006, Phillips appealed to the High Court of Australia, which ordered retrials for the six charges, relating to five victims, on which he had been convicted. Three of his alleged victims decided against going through the court process again. In May 2006, while on bail waiting for the retrials, Phillips raped a 16-year-old girl twice at his family's Burbank home. In the Rockhampton District Court last week, Phillips pleaded guilty to that rape.

He also received a sentence for the 2000 rape of a 16-year-old girl at his family's property in Innisfail. A jury found him guilty of that attack this year.

Judge Michael Shanahan said it was clear both women had suffered "significant difficulties" as a result of the rapes. In sentencing Phillips to six years' jail, Judge Shanahan said he took into account a psychiatric report which said Phillips had suffered from a genetic disorder from birth which had a "psychological and physical impact". "You have seemed. to have come to some realisation of the seriousness of your conduct and are perhaps showing some signs of remorse."

Phillips will be eligible to apply for parole in August 2009.

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The British bungledom that led to a police murder of an innocent man

The picture below is of the man they killed. Note his Pakistani appearance (NOT)



New Scotland Yard's operations control room was a scene of chaos, confusion and indecision on the day that its officers shot dead an innocent man on the Tube, the Old Bailey heard yesterday. Room 1600 was supposed to be the nerve centre from which senior officers directed a fast-moving operation to catch four would-be suicide bombers. Instead, it was noisy and overcrowded, with radio operators unable to hear transmissions from frontline officers and commanding officers unclear about what was happening.

The court was told that from this room, on the morning of July 22, 2005, conflicting orders were given to the surveillance and firearms teams that followed Jean Charles de Menezes to a Tube train and shot him dead. Clare Montgomery, QC, for the prosecution, said that the police operation that led to Mr de Menezes's death had "fundamental failures" and put the public at unnecessary risk. Among the flaws she detailed were:

- A delay of more than four hours before a firearms unit was deployed to stop and arrest a suspected bomber;

- Confusion among surveillance teams about whether Mr de Menezes was or was not the suspect they were looking for;

- Senior officers believing that Mr de Menezes had been identified as a terrorist despite the fact that no surveillance officer had stated that to be the case;

- Mr de Menezes was allowed to board two buses and a Tube despite fears that he was a suicide bomber.

The control room chaos seemed epitomised by the five minutes before Mr de Menezes was shot, when Commander Cressida Dick, Gold Commander at Scotland Yard, issued a series of contradictory orders to the surveillance team following Mr de Menezes.

Miss Montgomery, who is making the prosecution case against the Metropolitan Police under public health and safety legislation, told the court: "Officers from other departments - many of whom had no real business being there - crowded into the room to see what was going on. The operations room was noisy and chaotic. "The officers who were involved in the operation had to shout to make themselves heard above the noise. The officer who was supposed to monitor the surveillance commentary had great difficulty in hearing the radio transmissions of the surveillance officers. There were repeated requests for non-essential staff to leave the room. "Whether this atmosphere contributed to the disaster that occurred no one can say for sure. But it cannot have helped the decision-making process and it cannot have assisted in absorbing and analysing the information that was coming in from the surveillance officers watching Jean Charles."

Miss Montgomery said that the death of Mr de Menezes, 27, a Brazilian electrician, was "a shocking and catastrophic error" that could have been avoided. It occurred because of failures by the Metropolitan Police in conducting its operations, which put the public - and especially Mr de Menezes - at risk unnecessarily. As such, in the view of the prosecution, Scotland Yard breached health and safety legislation. She added: "We say that the police planned and carried out an operation so badly that the public were needlessly put at risk and Jean Charles de Menezes was actually killed as a result."

The Metropolitan Police, under the leadership of the Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, has pleaded not guilty to one charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act. A jury of six men and six women was told that it would hear evidence over the next two months before deciding on the guilt or innocence of Sir Ian's force.

The chain of events that led to the shooting began at 4am on July 22, 2005, when Commander John McDowall, of the Anti-Terrorist Branch, was told of a breakthrough in the hunt for the would-be 21/7 bombers. A rucksack containing a gym membership card had been found after the attempted bombing at Shepherd's Bush. It belonged to a Hussain Osman and he had been traced to flats at Scotia Road in Tulse Hill, South London. At 4.55am Mr McDowall drew up a strategy to put the flats under covert surveillance and to stop everyone leaving the building. His plan of action was written on a board in Room 1600.

The first surveillance unit - the Red Team - was on site by 6am and a second team - Grey - was there by 8.33am. But the specialist firearms unit, which was supposed to carry out any stops and arrests, never reached the target address. When Mr de Menezes left home at 9.33am, the firearms unit was miles away at a police station.

Miss Montgomery told the jury: "That is over four hours after the strategy was set. Four hours at a time when there was supposed to be 24-hour firearms cover to protect Londoners. "For reasons that are not clear, by 9.33, when Jean Charles emerged from the doorway, no police firearms officers were at the scene or even reasonably near. Certainly, none were close enough to stop Jean Charles if he had been a suicide bomber. We do know that firearms officers had been briefed, we know that they had armed themselves. Some had even had time to stop to fill their cars up with petrol, but none had arrived on the ground."

It fell to the surveillance officers to tail Mr de Menezes. They followed him as he caught a No 2 bus, jumping off at Brixton Tube station then, as it was closed, boarding a bus to Stockwell. Some of the surveillance officers thought Jean Charles was North African or had "Mongolian eyes" and resembled the picture of Osman. Others were doubtful. At no time did they say that they were satisfied he was the suspect. Neither did they discount him.

Miss Montgomery said: "It is a striking feature of the evidence that the views of the surveillance officers - which were never cut and dried - were not clearly understood by the senior officers in the control room."

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Bungling British police free child rapist

If only he had said something bad about homosexuals. THAT would have been dealt with promptly and energetically

Police were facing calls yesterday for a full inquiry after a suspected paedophile escaped to Australia and murdered an eight-year-old girl. In a case which was being compared to that of the Soham killer Ian Huntley, Dante Arthurs was allowed to leave Britain despite being suspected of causing bodily harm to a 12-year-old girl in Bookham, Surrey, in 2001. The Times has learnt that one Surrey Police officer resigned and another faced a disciplinary inquiry as a result of botching the investigation.

Arthurs slipped through the net a second time two years later when police in Western Australia missed a chance to have him jailed for a sexual assault. Last week he pleaded guilty to the murder of Sofia Rodriguez-Urru-tia Shu, who was found dead in the lavatory of a Perth shopping centre by her brother. She had been beaten, sexually assaulted and strangled.

Yesterday her family told The Times that they were dismayed and angry to learn that she might not have died had British police pursued her killer several years ago. Sofia’s father, Gabriel, said: “It has totally devastated us and amplified our grief. Sofia’s death could have been avoided.”

Family friends called for an inquiry into Arthurs being allowed to move to Australia despite continuing inquiries into the alleged assault in Bookham six years ago. Bryan Rosling, the family priest, said that the case had “disturbing links” to that of Huntley, who faced previous sexual allegations that were not investigated properly. “This guy was allowed to slip through the law’s fingers and commit his horrendous crime in 2006,” he said. “If he had been charged and convicted, Sofia might be alive and well today. At the very least he would have been known as a predator.”

In the alleged incident in 2001, Arthurs was suspected of grabbing the young girl from behind, putting his hands over her nose and mouth. She managed to struggle free. He was questioned by police and his house was searched, but an identification parade was repeatedly postponed – initially because of objections from Arthurs’ solicitor – and by the time police were able to go ahead with it, the suspect was on his way to Australia.

Surrey Police did not tell Interpol that Arthurs was a suspect. Officers in Australia, unaware of Arthurs’ past until he murdered Sofia last June, said that they would have known far earlier if Interpol had been alerted. A Surrey Police spokeswoman said: “A decision was made to review identification parade procedures when Surrey Police was made aware of the case against Arthurs in Australia. “An officer who was overseeing the identification suite at the time has since resigned from the force and another officer was given words of advice as a result of a disciplinary inquiry. “The identity of the offender was never established as there was insufficient evidence. There was no evidence in Arthurs’ character or background to suggest that he would offend, or reoffend.”

However, on June 26 last year Arthurs dragged Sofia into a shopping centre lavatory before beating her, sexually assaulting her and strangling her as her family searched for the girl. Mr Rosling said that Sofia’s family wanted a full inquiry into the actions of Surrey Police, and into Arthurs’ background to establish whether he could have ever attacked someone else. “The family know they will never see their daughter again. But they are constantly reminded of the way she died and the brutality of it. “And that he was never brought to justice earlier, which could have prevented this from happening – that is just mindboggling to them.”

Arthurs escaped conviction again in 2003, when the Director of Public Prosecutions in Western Australia dropped charges concerning another girl because he believed police interviews had been so aggressive that the confessions could not be used in court. His conviction for Sofia’s murder was itself jeopardised by the behaviour of investigating police, when an Australian Supreme Court judge ruled last month that most of Arthurs’ confession was inadmissible because he had been pressured to give certain answers. This proved irrelevant when Arthurs pleaded guilty last week to murder and deprivation of liberty. He is due to be sentenced this month.

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