Statement From South Wales Police Following Today’s Civil Court Judgement
South Wales Police has set out, over many years, with determination, to understand the events that led to the miscarriage of justice following the murder of Lynette White and we welcome the judgement today. Commenting on the actions taken by the Senior Investigating Officer Detective Chief Superintendent Chris Coutts and his deputy Detective Chief Inspector […]
South Wales Police has set out, over many years, with determination, to understand the events that led to the miscarriage of justice following the murder of Lynette White and we welcome the judgement today.
Commenting on the actions taken by the Senior Investigating Officer Detective Chief Superintendent Chris Coutts and his deputy Detective Chief Inspector John Penhale, the judge stated that “they sought to get to the truth of what had occurred during the course of the original investigation.”
We also note that the judge said that South Wales Police was justified in concluding that the original defendants had not been involved in Lynette White’s murder.
The judgement recognises that this was a complex and challenging investigation.
The judge noted that in “an investigation of the type and scale of LW3 it is almost inevitable that some mistakes will be made.”
34 arrests were made during the course of this investigation. The judge found against South Wales Police in only two claims concerning arrests, concluding that there was insufficient evidence to make one of the arrests and that one other was unnecessary.
We will now address those matters in conjunction with the claimants’ legal advisers. All other claims against South Wales Police have been rejected by the judge.
Alun Michael, Police and Crime Comissioner for South Wales Police, said: “Before my election as Commissioner, I was Member of Parliament for the area where Lynette’s murder took place and I have followed events with care from the start. What is clear is that South Wales Police is a very different organisation now than the one that led the initial murder investigation.
“It’s very important that all the circumstances around the long history of this case are being dealt with and three successive Chief Constables have taken a direct approach in following the evidence to wherever it leads. Today’s judgement is another step along the road of that process.”
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