Murder of Lynette White

Who is Murder of Lynette White?

Lynette White was murdered on 14 February 1988 in Cardiff, Wales. White, a 20 year old prostitute, was stabbed and slashed 69 times in a flat above a bookmaker's at 7 James Street, Butetown. South Wales Police issued a photofit image of a white male seen in the vicinity at the time of the murder but were unable to trace the man. In November 1988 the police charged five mixed-race men with White's murder, although none of the scientific evidence discovered at the crime scene could be linked to them. On conclusion of the longest murder trial in British history, in November 1990 three of the men were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.

In early 1991 a number of journalists began to question the safety of the convictions and public-service television broadcaster Channel 4 transmitted their own investigation of the case in Butetown: The Bridge And The Boys, part of their Black Bag magazine and documentary series aimed at Black and Asian viewers. In May 1991 two of the convicted men were granted leave to appeal their convictions, but the third, Stephen Miller, was refused. Satish Sekar, an investigative journalist specialising in crime and justice issues, had tracked down two witnesses not called at the trial who could provide an alibi for Miller's whereabouts at the time of the murder. Miller asked him if he would organise a new legal team to prepare his appeal. Sekar persuaded renowned solicitor Gareth Peirce to take on the case and handle the renewed application to appeal, and Pierce instructed Michael Mansfield QC to represent Miller in court. A public campaign to overturn the convictions, started by families and friends of the three men, began to receive high-profile support, including that of American community leader Reverend Al Sharpton and recently-exonerated member of the "Guildford Four", Gerry Conlon. Further television documentaries followed in 1992, including Unsafe Convictions as part of the BBC documentary series Panorama.