We investigate what life is like for those who have found themselves wrongly accused of a heinous crime
WORDS: FRANCESCA WOODSTOCK. PHOTOS: CBS REALITY, ALAMY, SHUTTERSTOCK
As a society, we put our trust in the police and the criminal justice system. We believe not only that a victim of a crime will get the justice they deserve, but that the true perpetrators will be held accountable. So what happens when an investigation targets the wrong person?
In a groundbreaking new series, Wrongly Accused, investigative journalist Louise Shorter looks at some of the UK’s greatest miscarriages of justice, in which the wrong person was accused or found guilty of murder, often spending years behind bars for a crime they didn’t commit. It might sound like something out of a film, but like Louise says, ‘If it happened to them, it could happen to you.’
‘I HELPED FREE AN INNOCENT MAN’
Louise Shorter is an investigative journalist and the host of Wrongly Accused on CBS Reality.
I’ve been an investigative journalist for 25 years. As a teenager, I loved watching Rough Justice on the BBC, which investigated alleged miscarriages of justice, and later, I had the privilege to start working on the programme as a producer. The first big case I led involved the wrongful conviction of Barri White, who in December 2000 was accused of murdering his 19-year-old girlfriend, Rachel Manning. In 2002, Barri, then 21, was sentenced to life in prison, alongside his friend Keith Hyatt, then 49, who was jailed for allegedly helping to dispose of Rachel’s body.
As soon as I looked into the case, something didn’t add up. Barri had spent the evening with Rachel, before getting into a scuffle outside a nightclub in Milton Keynes. CCTV captured the altercation, but Barri walked away, and the footage showed no animosity between him and Rachel. Afterwards, Barri went to Keith’s house, and Rachel went back to the club. But the prosecution alleged that Barri had murdered Rachel later that night, after her body was discovered in the undergrowth of a local golf course. She had been strangled, and her face had been disfigured with a steering lock, which was found nearby. They claimed Barri then called Keith asking for help.
When women are murdered, it is usually by someone they know, so it’s not unreasonable that Barri was initially a suspect. But as the investigation focused on him, other areas were sidelined.
In every wrongful murder conviction case, there is a tipping point ��
