Lynette White case: Angela Psaila 'directed by police'

Angela Psaila said she 'felt like a dog being beaten'

A woman interviewed over the murder of Cardiff prostitute Lynette White felt she was in a film and the police were the directors, a jury has heard.

Angela Psaila, 46, said officers wanted her to say what they wanted to hear.

Ms Psaila, whose original evidence helped to jail three innocent men, told Swansea Crown Court she had "absolutely nothing" to do with the murder.

Eight ex-police officers deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Two other people deny perjury.

Lynette White, 20, was murdered in Butetown in Cardiff on St Valentine's Day in 1988.

The three men wrongfully jailed for her murder, who became known as the Cardiff Three, were set free by the Court of Appeal in 1992.

In 2003 advances in DNA led police to Jeffrey Gafoor, now 46, who admitted murder and was jailed for life.

The eight ex-police officers have been accused of manufacturing a case against the three innocent men.

Ms Psaila, a former prostitute, said the police were "very forceful".

"There was a lot of shouting and they kept on telling me that I had been inside the flat when the murder took place," she said.

"I made it clear from the beginning that I had been babysitting. I wasn't there but they would not have it. As far as they were concerned I was there.

"It was like someone was making a film, a story. They were not going to listen to me."

Asked by Nick Dean QC, prosecuting, who was directing the film and who was in it, she replied: "The police and the five who were charged with murder."

She added, "They even said I took part in the murder. They were saying so and so said you were there, so and so said you have done this.

"It was disgusting what they did to me. The police knew what they were doing. I felt like a dog being beaten. When I asked to leave (Butetown police station) they said 'no.' When I asked for a solicitor they said 'no.'

"I was being treated like an animal. I want everyone in this court to know what they have done to me. Everybody."

Ms Psaila said by 17 November, 1988, she had made six statements to police saying that in the early hours of February 14, 1988, she had been at home in St Clare's Court, Cardiff, looking after the young son of Leanne Vilday.

But on the 17th she was "forcefully" interviewed by then detective constables Michael Daniels and Bryan Gillard.

On being collected and driven to Butetown police station, Ms Psaila said: "I didn't feel I could argue with these men. I had no choice. I had to go. I said to myself: 'You had better do what you are told to do.' "

The trial continues.