Lynette White: Corruption inquiry review after civil case

Lynette White was murdered in Cardiff in 1988

A review into why the UK's biggest police corruption trial collapsed is to report its findings after civil action by eight officers involved ends.

The former South Wales Police officers are suing the force after corruption allegations were made over the Lynette White murder investigation.

In 2011, they were cleared of perverting the course of justice following the wrongful conviction of three men for her 1988 murder.

The review's findings are due in 2016.

On 14 February 1988, 20-year-old Lynette White was found stabbed more than 50 times in the Cardiff docklands flat where she worked as a prostitute.

South Wales Police launched an investigation and Stephen Miller, Yusef Abdullahi and Anthony Paris, who became known as the "Cardiff Three", were jailed for life in 1990 after being convicted of her murder.

But their convictions were quashed on appeal in 1992 after judges were told they had been "fitted up" for the crime.

A new investigation was launched by the force but it was not until 2003, 11 years after the Cardiff Three were freed, that the real killer was identified.

A breakthrough in DNA techniques led detectives to Jeffrey Gafoor's Bridgend home.

He was arrested and later admitted her murder.

In the years that followed, questions were raised over the initial investigation into her death ultimately leading to eight former police officers being charged in 2011 with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

But the trial later that year collapsed in dramatic fashion when prosecutors lost confidence in the disclosure process and the case was abandoned.

All eight were cleared of any wrong-doing and have since launched civil action against South Wales Police.

And on Thursday at a pre-case hearing at the High Court sitting at Cardiff, it was said that the findings of the review into the matter would be made public after the the civil action is concluded.

Richard Horwell QC, who was appointed by the Home Secretary to head the inquiry, had initially been due to report his findings by the summer but due to the civil action under way is now not expecting to complete his inquiry until the spring of 2016.

The civil action by the former officers is due to be heard in October.