British Man jailed for murdering his pregnant wife accuses government of covering up prosecutors' 'dishonesty'

A convicted murderer accused Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke of trying to cover up the 'dishonesty' of police and prosecutors that he claimed led to his conviction. Eddie Gilfoyle, 49, who has protested his innocence since being arrested for the murder of his pregnant wife in 1992, was released from prison in December after 18 years behind bars.

But the terms of his parole included the condition that he did not make any contact with the media, even indirectly. That was later dropped after Lord Hunt of Wirral, his former MP, challenged the 'gagging order' with the Ministry of Justice and Parole Board chairman Sir David Latham.

Gilfoyle addressed the media for the first time today at a press conference organised by Lord Hunt, a former Conservative minister, in Parliament.

'I didn't kill my wife and I didn't kill my baby,' he said. 'When I was released from prison in December, I was told in no uncertain terms that neither myself, my sister, my legal team or anybody associated with me could talk to the media. 'If I had have, I was straight back to prison. Kenneth Clarke, the justice minister, authorised it. The reason he authorised it is because he didn't want me coming out and telling the truth.'

Gilfoyle lodged a request for an appeal against his conviction with the Criminal Cases Review Commission last August, but said today he still had not been assigned a case officer.

He accuses Merseyside Police, who investigated the death by hanging of his wife Paula in 1992, of destroying the scene and seeking to cover up their mistakes by 'framing' him.

'Having taken 18 years of my life, I am not prepared to wait five years, I'm not prepared to wait two years, until they get their act together and sort out this case,' he said. 'I'm going to be in your faces, kicking at your door to sort out the dishonesty in this case and give me my life back.'

He called for a meeting with Mr Clarke to ask him 'what he's prepared to do'. 'He's responsible for the gagging order. I need answers and I think it's only right I should be given those answers,' he said. 'I might be out of prison but I'm always going to be a prisoner while this is over my head.'

His solicitor, Matt Foot, said there had been no forensic evidence for murder. 'The reason for that is that it was a suicide,' he said. 'What the prosecution did was distort the evidence to give the appearance that there was forensic evidence in this case.'

Mr Foot claimed there were two 'fallacies' in the murder case - that Mrs Gilfoyle would not have been able to keep her balance as she walked up the ladder to where she was hanged, and that she would not have been able to get the rope over the beam. 'These were complete and utter myths that were created by the prosecution and went into the trial,' he said.

It was an 'extraordinary coincidence' that today's press conference came as the Law Commission had recommended changing the rules on expert evidence in jury trials. 'What they are saying is that there shouldn't be unjustifiable assumptions going into trials from experts,' Mr Foot said. 'And that's exactly what happened in this case, and if the new rules that are being suggested were in force in 1992 this case would never have gone to trial.'

Lord Hunt, who first took up Gilfoyle's case as MP for Wirral West in the 1990s, said: 'At last the truth is coming to the surface.' The peer said the Parole Board had informed him in January it had taken further legal advice on the restriction on Gilfoyle's communications with the media. 'I am still inquiring as to why it was ever imposed in the first place,' he added.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: 'This is not true - the Secretary of State cannot authorise licence conditions in respect of life sentence prisoners. 'It is for the independent Parole Board to agree any licence conditions of lifers released from prison and for the courts to decide if an individual is guilty of a crime.

A Merseyside Police spokesperson said: 'It would be inappropriate to comment on this case which is currently under review by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.'

Original report here




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