Lynette White: 'Killer may not have acted alone'

A man who murdered a Cardiff prostitute may not have acted alone, the barrister for officers involved in the original murder investigation has claimed.

Eight South Wales Police officers are suing the force after they were cleared of allegations relating to the investigation of Lynette White's murder in 1988.

The corruption trial collapsed in 2011.

On Monday, Anthony Metzer QC told the High Court there are inconsistencies pointing to other people being present.

The former police officers went on trial for their conduct during the 1988 inquiry, which resulted in the arrest and wrongful conviction of the so-called Cardiff Three; Tony Parris, Stephen Miller and Yusef Abdullahi, who had maintained their innocence.

Their convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal in 1992 after the prosecution accepted that they were "unsafe and unsatisfactory".

At the end of that appeal hearing, Lord Justice Taylor said he was horrified by the police conduct in the case.

The real killer, Jeffrey Gafoor, was arrested in 2003.

'Treated like liars'

The subsequent police corruption trial collapsed and the former police officers - Graham Mouncher, Thomas Page, Richard Powell, John Seaford, Michael Daniels, Peter Greenwood, Paul Jennings, and Paul Stephen - have brought civil action at the Cardiff court.

Mr Metzer told the court that although DNA evidence linked Gafoor to the murder of Ms White, it was "open to question" whether he acted alone.

He said the police officers' arrests on corruption charges had been "devastating" for their lives and careers, and that they had been "scapegoated and treated like liars".

Mr Metzer added that there was a misguided desire by those leading the corruption investigation to exonerate the original defendants, even though there may have been some involvement in the murder.

Judge Mr Justice Wyn Williams reminded the court that Gafoor had pleaded guilty to murder.

The eight officers are suing South Wales Police for misfeasance in public office and false imprisonment.

The case continues.