Justice system fails, again.

The biggest police prosecution trial ever collapsed, the trial which involves the prosecution of 8 policemen who were suspected of fabricating a murder case in the 80’s. The case involves the famous Cardif Three, the three men who were convicted in the 90’s for the murder of Lynette White. White, who was a prostitute in Cardiff was murdered in 1988 in her apartment, where she received her clients. Two years later, in 1990, three men were arrested and found guilty of killing White, however they got released in 1992 because of lack of solid evidence. In 2003 the real killer admitted to the murder of White, one of her clients.

This leaves us with the question why the three men were arrested and even found guilty, this is what the recent police trial tried to clarify. The 8 policemen were accused of incriminating the 3 men who were originally arrested and convicted for the murder. The prosecutor also set out to prove that the accusations in the trial of 1990 was largely based on assumptions, theories and imagination. Certainly a case worth clarifying. However, it seems the prosecution slipped and did not make a solid case against the 8 policemen because the case recently got dismissed by the court. A spokesmen for one of the accused policemen claimed that the case got dismissed because of the prosecution failed to disclose certain evidence.

The 8 policemen are now released from prison, the wrongly accused men are free and the real killer is in jail. This still leaves a question were the system of justice failed and wrongly imprisoned the three men.

My opinion

The moment I read this article I realized some parts were quite similar to a case in The Netherlands, ‘ De Puttense Moordzaak ‘. In this case too, the prosecution and justice system slipped up and jailed the wrong people. This proves the justice system is not one hundred percent reliable, although mistakes are human, people expect the prosecution and the system in general to work. The case shows policemen who likely had to do with some sort of fabrication of evidence their reasons for doing so however remain a mystery. In the article there is also mentioned how the government spend millions of pounds on this case and that it was a complete waste. Arguably it is since the case failed miserably, but I still think it is important to clarify where and how it went wrong in the 1990’s murder case.