The Scapegoat: One Murder. Two Victims. 27 Years Lost.
A gripping true crime investigation into the longest miscarriage of justice in British legal history.In September 1973, Stephen Downing was convicted and indefinitely sentenced for the murder of Wendy Sewell, a young legal secretary in the town of Bakewell in the Peak District. Wendy was attacked in broad daylight in Bakewell Cemetery. Stephen Downing, the 17-year-old groundskeeper with learning difficulties and a reading age of 11, was the primary suspect. He was immediately arrested, questioned for nine hours, without a solicitor present, and forced into signing a confession full of words he did not understand.21 years later, local newspaper editor Don Hale was thrust into the case. Determined to take it to appeal, as he investigated the details, he found himself inextricably linked to the narrative. He faced obstacles at every turn, and suffered police harassment and several attempts on his life. All of this merely strengthened his resolve: why should anyone threaten him if Downing had committed the crime?In 2002, Stephen Downing was finally acquitted, having served 27 years in prison.Immerse yourself in this masterful account of Hale’s long, dedicated and often dangerous campaign to rescue a long-forgotten victim of the British legal system; the longest miscarriage of justice in British history.
Читать The Scapegoat: One Murder. Two Victims. 27 Years Lost. онлайн беплатно
HarperElement
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published as Town Without Pity by Century,
an imprint of Random House 2002
This revised and updated edition published by HarperElement 2019
FIRST EDITION
© Don Hale 2019
Cover design by Ellie Game © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019
Cover photograph supplied by the author
While every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright material reproduced herein and secure permissions, the publishers would like to apologise for any omissions and will be pleased to incorporate missing acknowledgements in any future edition of this book.
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
Don Hale asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at
Source ISBN: 9780008331627
Ebook Edition © June 2019 ISBN: 9780008331634
Version: 2019-05-22
Contents
1 Cover
2 Title Page
3 Copyright
4 Dedication
5 Contents
6 Cast of Characters
7 Map of Bakewell Cemetery
8 INTRODUCTION
9 1 ‘STEPHEN WHO?’
10 2 THE DOWNINGS
11 3 WHAT RAY SAW
12 4 THE CONFESSION
13 5 THE WITNESSES
14 6 STEPHEN’S VERSION
15 7 BELIEVING THE BEEBES
16 8 THE RUNNING MAN
17 9 PERSONS OF INTEREST: MR ORANGE, MR OULSNAM AND MR RED
18 10 WHO WAS WENDY SEWELL?
19 11 ANATOMY OF A FALSE CONFESSION
20 12 ON THE TRAIL OF MR ORANGE
21 13 WALKING WITH WITNESSES
22 14 THE BOMBSHELL
23 15 THE SMOKING GUN
24 16 GETTING TO KNOW STEPHEN DOWNING
25 17 FACE TO FACE AT LAST
26 18 JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE PARANOID DOESN’T MEAN THEY’RE NOT AFTER YOU
27 19 WALKING IN ROBERT ERVIN’S SHADOW
28 20 CLANDESTINE MEETINGS
29 21 BATTLING BUREAUCRACY
30 22 THE TEA AND CAKES DEPARTMENT
31 23 THE COVER-UP
32 24 MULTIPLE MURDERS
33 25 THE NATIONAL INTEREST
34 26 THE WAITING GAME
35 27 THE LONGEST DAY
36 28 FACE TO FACE AGAIN
37 29 WELCOME HOME
38 30 FREEDOM
39 Epilogue
40 Enjoyed the Book?
41 About the Publisher
LandmarksCoverFrontmatterStart of ContentBackmatter
List of Pagesiiiivvixxxixii123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134135136137138139140141142143144145146147148149150151152153154155156157158159160161162163164165166167168169170171172173174175176177178179180181182183184185186187188189190191192193194195196197198199200201202203204205206207208209210211212213214215216217218219220221222223224225226227228229230231232233234235236237238239240241242243244245246247248249250251252253254255256257258259260261262263264265266267268269270271272273274275276277278279280281282283284285286287288289290291292293294295296297298299300301302303304305306307308309310311312313314315316317318319320321322323324325326327328329330331332333334335336337338
THE MAIN SUSPECT AND HIS FAMILY
Stephen Downing
Ray Downing
Juanita Downing
Christine Downing
PERSONS OF INTEREST
Mr Orange
Syd Oulsnam
Mr Red
Mr Blue (the running man)
The businessman
PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR AND INFORMANTS
Robert Ervin
Port Vale
Chelsea
Spurs
DERBYSHIRE POLICE
PC Ernie Charlesworth
PC Ball
Detective Younger
Detective Johnson
Detective Rodney Jones
Detective Superintendent Tom Naylor
Chief Constable John Newing
Deputy Chief Constable Don Dovaston
MATLOCK MERCURY STAFF
Sam Fay
Jackie Dunn
Norman Taylor
Marcus Edwards
Matt Barlow
OTHER JOURNALISTS
Nick Pryer (Mail on Sunday)
Frank Curran (Daily Star)
Matthew Parris (The Times)
Rob Hollingsworth (Sheffield Star)
Allan Taylor (Central Television)
OFFICIALS
Patrick McLoughlin MP
CCRC Commissioner Barry Capon
WITNESSES
Charlie Carman
Wilf Walker
Peter Moran
