British judges throw out Downing's 1974 conviction for murder

By STEVE BOGGAN

LONDON - Britain's longest-running miscarriage of justice was laid to rest yesterday when the Court of Appeal quashed the murder conviction of Stephen Downing, who protested his innocence for 28 years.

Downing, who could receive compensation of up to £2 million ($6.8 million) for his wrongful incarceration, was jubilant after three judges ruled that his conviction for the 1973 murder of office worker Wendy Sewell was unsafe.

But the celebrations were slightly marred by the judges describing the case as "bizarre" and making references to Downing's confession - later withdrawn - that he had sexually assaulted Sewell after finding her alive.

The judgment, which fell short of declaring Downing innocent, disappointed his supporters, particularly since he had served 10 years longer than usual for murder because of his refusal to admit guilt.

Outside the High Court at London, Downing, now 45, said only: "I'm overjoyed. I just want to thank everyone who helped me."

As for the Derbyshire police, whose officers helped to convict him, he said: "I have nothing against them at all. It is a completely different force now. I just want to put this behind me."

Downing was convicted of Sewell's murder in 1974.

She died, aged 32, two days after being attacked in a cemetery in Bakewell, Derbyshire, where Downing worked as a gardener.

Then a 17-year-old with a mental age of 11, Downing found Sewell, her head badly beaten but still alive.

He confessed to the murder after lengthy interrogation by police.

Norman Lee, a Home Office forensic scientist, said at his trial that bloodstains on Downing's clothing were consistent only with his attacking her.

But yesterday, Julian Bevan, QC, for the Crown, agreed with Edward Fitzgerald, QC, for Downing, that new evidence had "gravely undermined" the two prosecution grounds on which he was convicted.

First, Fitzgerald said, Downing's confession should have been ruled inadmissible because he was neither cautioned nor given access to a solicitor during eight hours of interrogation. Those breaches of Judges' Rules led to Downing being released on bail last year.

Second, two forensic scientists had criticised Lee's evidence, saying bloodstains on Downing's clothing could have been consistent with his finding her and being sprayed with droplets of blood from her hair or her breath.

The ruling is a victory for Don Hale, former editor of The Matlock Mercury.

For more than six years he has been gathering statements and highlighting forensic flaws that, he believes, point to the murder having been committed by someone else.

Hale has found witnesses who say they saw Sewell alive after Downing had left the cemetery to go home for lunch.

It has also been established that blood on his trousers had already begun to clot before he knelt in it.

For the past year, while awaiting his appeal hearing, Downing has been living with his parents in Bakewell and training as a sous chef.

- INDEPENDENT