1.

The first reply from C3 claimed that the key ring in the "Rough Justice" programme "was not, as implied, the one produced in court but one based on a description of the key ring given by Mrs Christine Alred."

The second reply explained this error by claiming that the "Rough Justice team" advised the police that the key ring produced in the programme was a composite one".

The inaccuracies in these statements indicate the poor quality of the investigation made in response to the JUSTICE petition.

The initial C3 reply assumed that only one key ring had appeared in the programme. This indicated that neither the police involved, nor the C3 officials had watched the programme with due care. Two different fish key rings were clearly featured - indeed witnesses were shown several different key rings.

Another indicator that C3 were completely confused by the evidence came during the answer to evidence about Paul Wilkinson and the key ring. C3 wrote:

"Paul Wilkinson, Carol’s brother, who gave evidence at the trial but who was not seen by the "Rough Justice" team, remains adamant that the key ring produced in court was the one owned by his sister and that it was on her bag prior to the attack. And he is equally adamant that the one produced on the programme was not the one used in court."

This statement avoids the difficulty that Paul Wilkinson first told the police that Carol had the key ring on a brown bag - which he produced for the police. He later changed his story when he was told that the bag Carol had carried with her was blue. The phrase "prior to the attack" is also misleading - Paul Wilkinson said " a month before", Counsel had amended this to " a week before".

The TV programme never claimed to have the key ring "used in court". To which key ring in the TV programme Paul Wilkinson refers is not known. One shown was never presented as having been in court. A second was presented as identical to the one that appeared in court.

This second key ring was discovered after extensive research to find a key ring which matched the detailed description recorded by the Defence forensic scientist Dr. Julius Grant. Paul Wilkinson never saw this second key ring except on a TV screen. He has never handled it.

2.

The second C3 reply was further misleading in another aspect of the key ring evidence. It said that the "Rough Justice team" advised the police that the key ring produced in the programme was a composite one".

In fact, the "Rough Justice Team" members were never interviewed by the police during their investigation as was claimed. Nor would they, if asked, have mentioned the word "composite" with regard to the key ring in question - for they had searched the stocks of key rings around the world to find the particular key ring mentioned. None of the fish key rings shown in the programme could in any way be described as "composite". They were all shown in exactly the same form as they had been bought.

3.

The second reply also included the words:

" it is understood that Brian Best was interviewed by the "Rough Justice" team at a hotel where he identified a gold coloured fish key ring with green eyes as one similar to Carol’s."

This is a false representation of what happened. and is clearly based on inadequate investigation.

Brian Best’s complete exposure to key rings at the hotel on the date in question was recorded on videotape. He did not identify a gold fish like the one that appeared at the trial. He chose a fish from a large number of them, but it was not like the one he had identified in 1979. He then chose another fish - with red eyes, saying it was one of them. Neither was like the one he had identified in 1979. He was then shown the fish with the gold scales and green eyes - stamped "Hong Kong". This fish was exactly as per the detailed description made by Dr. Julius Grant for the Defence of the key ring that appeared in the trial.

Brian Best said he had never seen the words " Hong Kong" on the key ring before. He also asserted that he had never seen the fish on a blue denim handbag - only on a brown one.

It was only later, when asked what kind of fish he had been looking for, that Brian Best said he had been looking for one with the same green stone in the eye and with the particular scale effect. By then, he had already then been shown the fish like the one that appeared in court. It had green eyes.

Clearly the police were mis-informed by a witness about what he had told the BBC. However, neither they, nor the Home Office, checked Brian Best’s claims. They were happy to accept the inadequate nature of the evidence as it stood.

4.

A further point about Brian Best suggests that the inquiry was conducted in a wholly incomplete manner. After the BBC "Rough Justice" programme was transmitted, the entire transcripts of the interviews were sent to the Home Office. These interviews included the transcripts of Brian Best’s interview - which showed the episode of him identifying a fish with green eyes only after he had been shown the fish identified by Dr. Grant’s description..

5.

The second reply concluded with the words " all the points made regarding the key-ring evidence have been carefully considered". This clearly cannot be true, because a careful consideration would not have made the errors that were made.

6.

As to the original witness evidence regarding the key ring, the C3 reply did not address the central point of the JUSTICE petition - the reliability of the identification evidence brought before the court.

In an attempt to eliminate any further misapprehensions, this element of the evidence was explained in precise detail in a memo by Peter Hill attached to the second JUSTICE petition.

"The second key ring - which is perhaps the one referred to in the Home Office letter - was not at all like the one which appeared in court. It was one found by the "Rough Justice" researchers who were trying to find a key-ring which matched the original description of the victim's keyring given by Christine Alred. It was discovered in Portugal and supplied by a firm called Malgalhaes. Two other Portuguese companies were involved in exporting these fish - Topazio of Porto and Rosas De Portugal in Gondomar.

In her original evidence to the police in Colchester Christine Alred said that the victim had:

This evidence by Christine Alred was the only description ever given of Carol Wilkinson's key ring - all the other witnesses merely looked at the key ring being shown to them by the police and identified it as being hers - or ' identical to hers'."

In brief, this pointed out that the only reliable evidence, collected with proper investigative technique, was that of Christine Alred. With her, the police ( in Colchester) had asked her to describe the key ring she remembered Carol having possessed. Then she was asked to draw it as best she could. This was proper technique, producing reliable evidence.

On the other hand, the technique used on the witnesses who positively identified the "courtroom" key ring as Carol’s was poor. The key ring was simply placed before them - and they were asked if they could identify it as hers. They were offered no alternative by which their recollection might be tested. This technique was clearly inadequate.

7.

Further points were made in Peter Hill’s memo with regard to the calibre of the witnesses. Peter Hill pointed out that Paul Wilkinson had not been as close to Carol Wilkinson as was implied in the C3 reply.

In fact Carol Wilkinson had left home some three years before her murder. Paul Wilkinson, who "saw Carol regularly until her death" according to C3, had not lived in the same house as Carol during those three years.

Hill wrote:

"Paul Wilkinson had said in his original statement that the fish keyring which the police showed him was "either the key ring or identical to a key ring owned by Carol", that she had had the key ring attached to her handbag, and that he had handed that handbag ( exhibit 16) to the police. He said he had had it in mind to attach hooks to the rings along its bottom to use it as a pike lure.

During the trial, Paul Wilkinson was asked on which of two of his sister's handbags he had seen the keyring. He chose a blue denim handbag. This was exhibit 20 and had been found at the scene of the crime. But originally, in his statement to the police he had pointed out a brown handbag and had handed that handbag, exhibit 16, over to the police as the handbag on which his sister had kept her keyring.

8.

On another aspect of the identification of the fish key ring, Hill pointed out that Brian Best was "a copper’s nark", and therefore liable to give tainted evidence - an allegation apparently not investigated at all. If the police had interviewed "the Rough Justice team" as was claimed, Hill could have proved this.

C3 also failed to answer another point of Hill’s reply to the first letter - that Brian Best admitted he hardly knew Carol:

Hill wrote:

"It may also be of significance that Brian Best had apparently been a suspect during the initial investigation of 1977, in that he had been asked to supply an alibi. In this statement he said:

The C3 reply did not adequately address any of these points. Other points were similarly not mentioned by C3.

Furthermore, no mention was made of the fact that Carol’s sister - with whom she had been living only months before she was killed - did not identify the key-ring, nor did her husband who had shared the same house with Carol.

Statements taken from Mr and Mrs Wilkinson did not contain any reference to the key ring. This is strange considering the central role it played in the evidence. Even when Steel’s solicitor asked for all relevant statements not being presented by the prosecution, no statements from Mr and Mrs Wilkinson mentioning the key ring were disclosed. Can we accept that the police did not ask Mr and Mrs Wilkinson whether or not they could identify the key ring? This hardly seems likely - their son, Paul Wilkinson was interviewed by the police whilst he was still living at the family home. He was only 17 years old at the time.

At the core of the argument however, lies the simple point: Carol Wilkinson shared her home with three adults in her last 18 months of life. These three were Kevin Best, Wendy Worsley/Farr ( her sister) and James Worsley ( Wendy’s husband).

Kevin must have seen Carol’s handbags and purse every day. Wendy Worsley saw her every day until she went to live with Kevin Best in Ranelagh Road - but even then Wendy used to see Carol every Saturday when she went shopping - an occasion when Wendy would have seen Carol’s handbag and purse.

Not one of these three with whom she lived identified the key ring. The only identification came from three young men of possibly doubtful reliability because of their individual personal positions - all of whom had seen Carol only occasionally - certainly not every day.

C3 failed to follow up any of these points.

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THE C3 REPLY - II :

TIMING - THE HULLAH SISTERS.( To see what the petition said, click here)

With the Hullah evidence, the Home Office once again failed to address the central point of the evidence presented. The first reply had pointed out that "the statements made by the Hullah sisters were made available to the defence, but not used."

This assumes that the evidence given by Susan Hullah on 14th October 1977 was the same as the evidence in the petition of 1986. It was not. In the "Rough Justice" programme both the Hullah sisters - Julie and Susan - made statements.

They were questioned about the accuracy of their timing of the incident - an aspect not in their original statement.

They also mentioned Carol’s difficulty with her wedge-heeled beige shoes. They had mentioned these before in 1977, but another part of the evidence of the shoes had not been associated with their comment; it confirmed the day of their sighting. C3 did not address this key issue - the day on which the Hullah girls saw Carol Wilkinson. The other witnesses to Carol on Ravenscliffe Avenue - Murphy and Widdop - may have been confused about timing. The Hullah girls definitely saw Carol Wilkinson on the morning of her murder.

The only person to see Carol Wilkinson at a point further along the route was Wendy Murphy. She did not know Carol Wilkinson. She identified her on that morning largely by the colour of her coat - and was not entirely certain of exactly where she had seen Carol. Even the judge told the jury that "perhaps as late as getting on for 8:40 she was seen near the butcher’s shop in Ravenscliffe Avenue. Then she was seen a little later at about 8:40 to 8:45. near the end of Ravenscliffe Avenue"

Peter Hill’s analysis in response to C3’s first reply added a significant point which C3 then chose to ignore.

Wendy Murphy’s recollection of Carol was, on the evidence, poor. In her statement she described Carol’s engagement ring as being " a small gold ring with a single diamond and sapphire stones surrounding it." In fact, Carol’s ring, as described by her friend Jean Broadbent who had examined it and saw it every day was " a gold solitaire". This ring was on Carol’s body and eventually became exhibit MAH 3 . There are no photographs extant of it.

As for the Hullah girls, they were the only witnesses to sighting who definitely saw Carol on the day of the murder. Neither Murphy nor Widdop noticed the difficulty Carol was having with her new shoes. It was an important piece of evidence that the jury was unaware of.

None of the other witnesses identified Carol so positively.

The strength of the Hullahs’ evidence brings some doubt to the value of the trial evidence about Carol walking on Ravenscliffe Avenue. Essentially, the question is - should we believe them on time, or should Wendy Murphy be believed on identification?.

The Hullah girls and Wendy Murphy each claimed to know Carol Wilkinson by sight. However, the Hullah girls knew her from school, whilst Wendy Murphy did not even know her name.

Each claimed to be sure of the timing they have for the sighting of her. The Hullah girls claim that their sighting could not have been earlier than ten minutes to ninebecause they were in a routine of going to school.

Wendy Murphy was going to work. However, she was apparently surprised to see Carol on that particular morning - even though the bus strike had been on for a week. As noted above, if Carol had always gone by the same route ( as the other prosecution evidence alleged) - then Wendy Murphy should have seen her on Ravenscliffe Avenue during the previous week. She should not have been surprised.

Doreen Widdop, the other main witness to the position of Carol on Ravenscliffe Avenue, stated that since the bus strike she had "seen Carol on most mornings in the same locality on her way to work".

It is not possible that the Hullah girls might be mistaken, perhaps having seen Carol on some day during the previous week. They definitely saw Carol on the Monday. This was the only working day in her life that Carol wore the beige shoes.

C3 rejected the Hullah girls’ evidence without reason. If the reason for disregarding the Hullah girl was their age - then we must draw the reader’s attention to the ages of the four boys who identified the key ring which was a much more important piece of evidence. Susan Hullah was 16 years old and her sister Julie was 15 years old at the time of the murder. At that time Brian Best was 19, Neil Best was 17, Paul Wilkinson was 17 and Terry Best was 11 years old.

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THE C3 REPLY - III:

The C3 report was seriously deficient on this matter. Although it claimed that the question was "explored in detail", it failed to cover all the evidence presented and it misrepresented other evidence.

The entire manner of the approach taken by C3 and the investigating officers ignored the scientific evidence of the surveyor employed by the BBC. The present petition seeks to restore the original position of the 1986 petition and therefore re-instate the evidence of the surveyor.

The point shown on the "Rough Justice" programme was a discernible physical join in the road where a new estate had been attached to the main Ravenscliffe estate. This join in the road was where Ravenscliffe Avenue had joined "the muck road" in 1977. It was some yards south of Oakdale Drive where Wendy Murphy lived.

Wendy Murphy said she saw Carol some 75 yards north of Oakdale Drive. It seems that the prosecution presentation failed to clarify the relative distances for the judge. He told the jury that the end of Ravenscliffe Avenue was " but within a few yards" of Langdale Road - indeed he said Langdale Road was "virtually the end of Ravenscliffe Avenue". Elsewhere he described Wendy Murphy’s sighting of Carol as "very near, or quite near to the end of Ravenscliffe Avenue".

C3 quoted Steel’s statement about the position of Carol. There were two descriptions:a) " she was "on the muck road", andb) she was on the avenue, nearly at the end and was nearly going to the muck road."

The judge did not quote either of these statements to the jury, though they had been available to the jury during the trial. His only direct reference to the position of Carol Wilkinson when Steel was supposed to have seen her was a repetition of Steel’s words in the statement by D.S. Falconer:

"I saw her again in Ravenscliffe Avenue. I went over the fence and walked across the spare ground to the muck road." This statement was misleading, because the "muck road" referred to here was not the "muck road" at the end of Ravenscliffe Avenue. It was the "jockey path" - directly across the valley, eastwards from the back of Steel’s home. These two different paths connected south of Steel’s home.

THE SIGHTING OF CAROL WILKINSON BY STEEL.

2. Incorrect Map.

C3 did not refer to the fact that the judge also referred the jury to a map produced in court . The "Rough Justice" programme revealed that this map did not correctly represent the area known as the "muck road" as it had been at the time of the murder. In the correct map, as the programme demonstrated, the path across this area was significantly different to that shown to the jury.

THE SIGHTING OF CAROL WILKINSON BY STEEL.

The policewoman is standing on the corner of Falkland Avenue and Ravenscliffe Avenue. This is a considerable distance away from the corner of Oakdale Drive mentioned by the judge, and is about 150 yards from the join in the road where the "muck road" began at the time of the murder. By visiting the scene, it is easy to see that this photograph was taken from the front corner of Steel’s house. All of these points were made in the TV programme.

In reply to this, the C3 report stated "Enquiries have shown that a view from the back door of Mr. Steel’s home (which is in fact on the side of the house) affords a view of Ravenscliffe Avenue where the victim could have been seen."

This statement is simply wrong: there is no view of Ravenscliffe Avenue at all from the door in question. This fact was clearly demonstrated in the film in the sequence in which Martin Young walked from the back door to a position of the camera which took the photo presented to the jury.

THE SIGHTING OF CAROL WILKINSON BY STEEL.

This point was not addressed by C3, except as in the general manner of stating that the jury was not mis-led. The point in the programme about the difficulty of walking by the "muck road" - across a stream and up a muddy bank - was not presented to the jury because no photograph of the "muck road" Carol was supposed to have taken was ever appeared in court. The only picture of "the muck road" presented was of the path Steel was supposed to have taken.

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THE SIGHTING OF CAROL WILKINSON BY STEEL

SUMMARY

In summary on the C3 reply to evidence on the sighting of Carol by Steel, C3 ignored the fact that the picture the jury had presented to them was completely concocted by the police.

Against the evidence of the confession, the police decided that Steel had seen Carol on the corner of Falkland Avenue. They decided that this was "nearly going to the muck road". They also decided that this position could be seen from Steel’s back door. They took a photograph which they claimed proved this.

Not only did the police concoct this story, but they supported it with a further photograph which purported to show that Steel could see "the muck road" from his back door.

In support of this, they added to their photographs an out of date map which did not show the true position of the "muck road" as it was in 1977.

When asked to re-investigate the matter for C3, a blatant lie was told about the view from Steel’s back door. C3 failed to investigate this and did not address any of the falsities mentioned above. Indeed, the C3 report stated "There is no evidence to suggest that the jury was misled on this point"

To state, as C3 did, that " There appears to have been no suggestion by the prosecution that Mr. Steel could have seen the victim at the point which was shown on the "Rough Justice" programme" is to completely avoid the point of the petition evidence.

The prosecution may not have said this in words that appear in the transcript. But they effectively made the claim with their photographs .

In fact, the position that the prosecution claimed was " near the start of the muck road" was actually two streets away from the end of Ravenscliffe Avenue .

The photographs further suggested that this position could be seen from Steel’s back door. That was impossible.

We would point out that the area of the position of the policewoman in the reconstruction photographs is the only position on Ravenscliffe Avenue which can be seen by someone standing at any point around Steel’s house.

It is clear from the evidence inside the C3 report that these points were not investigated properly by C3.

If the Commission decides that the words " on the ‘muck road’, ‘nearly at the end’ and ‘nearly going to the muck road" that appeared in Steel’s confession meant what JUSTICE and the BBC researchers considered they meant, then we refer the reader to the evidence already provided to the Home Office and covered in detail in the "Rough Justice" programme that Steel could not see any area reasonably described by those words from his back door - or indeed anywhere near his house.

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THE C3 REPLY - IV:

THE ALTERNATIVE ROUTE.

The C3 report did not answer the point made in the "Rough Justice" programme and in the JUSTICE petition that it was unlikely that Carol went by the "muck road" route.

The TV programme had said, with pictorial illustration:

"She'd then walk through what is locally called 'the snicket'. This alleyway would take her on to a disused railway line."

The writer of the C3 report appears to have been totally unaware of the existence of the "snicket" mentioned.

The report stated:

" It was noted that the court were aware of the alternative routes Carol Wilkinson could have taken."

What the court was told was summarised by the judge thus:

"Which way she went, whether down Oakdale Drive or straight along the dirt path, the independent evidence does not tell us."

This was, as pointed out in the petition and in the TV programme, a mis-reading of the evidence.

Wendy Murphy had told the court that she had seen Carol about 75 yards before Oakdale Drive. This placed Carol north of the junction with Falkland Road. Falkland led to Harden Grove and the snicket through to the Railway line.

The railway line route was described by Kevin Best and mentioned by C3 in the report dismissing the petition. However, the way through to this route was not mentioned in any of the evidence either in police statements or at trial.

The judge’s statement that the two alternatives were " down Oakdale Drive or straight along the dirt path." was based on ignorance of the Harden Grove snicket - for the route through Oakdale Drive would mean that Carol would have doubled back on her journey. Oakdale Drive curves round and is going north when the snicket is reached.

On the other hand, the route through Harden Grove however is consistently in a southerly direction and in a direct line towards the bakery which was Carol’s destination.

It is therefore clear that since the route through Harden Grove links up directly with the snicket in Oakdale Drive, it would not be logical for Carol to go the longer way round to the railway line by taking the Oakdale route.

C3 failed to grasp this point- as did the judge. We shall never know if the jury looked at the way that Oakdale bent back north and considered that Carol would not have doubled back on her journey in that manner.

It seems that the judge was not aware of the route via Harden Grove . That is not surprising, for it was not mentioned anywhere at the trial.

However, C3’s investigation, made in the light of the "Rough Justice" programme, should have disclosed this and various other routes to the railway line.

We can only believe that C3 was ill-informed when it wrote: " no new evidence has come to light to indicate which route Carol Wilkinson actually took and the situation remains as stated by the trial judge in his summing-up..."

It is clear that the TV programme had produced new evidence, by mentioning the Harden Grove snicket, which might well have influenced the jury in the consideration of the route.

THE ALTERNATIVE ROUTE.

No reply was made to the evidence that Mrs Wendy Worsley, the victim’s sister had told the police "she always used to ... walk on the railway line." and " she was a girl who stuck to the same routines."

Nor was any reply made to the evidence that Jean Broadbent had told the police that she knew Carol Wilkinson had used the "railway route" on every day of the week prior to her murder- except when she had got a lift.

THE ALTERNATIVE ROUTE.

Beige shoes were mentioned at the trial, and one was visible in a photograph of the scene of the crime. However, the fact that these shoes had only been bought on the previous Saturday was not mentioned in the trial. The petition argued that the jury may well have considered that Carol would not have attempted to cross the stream that crossed the muck road - there were stepping stones over it - and climb up the muddy bank on the other side of the valley in brand new beige shoes.

--00--

It seems that no proper consideration was given by C3 to any of the evidence presented about other possible routes for Carol. Much of this stems no doubt from the complete ignorance on the part of the judge, jury - and probably the prosecution team - of the true layout of the area.

As mentioned above, no police photograph was presented of the "muck road" that the prosecution claimed was taken by Carol. Harden Grove was never mentioned in evidence.

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THE C3 REPLY - V:

Steel’s alibi relied on Eddie Hannon having gone with him to Steel’s home for a pot of tea on the morning in question. Hannon denied he had gone with Steel.

The TV programme "Rough Justice" did not dispute any of Hannon’s evidence. Nor did it rely on any of Hannon’s evidence which the JUSTICE petition mentioned - that Hannon had been pressurized by the police during his interviews.

Nevertheless, C3 addressed the matter of the alibi at some length and with some inaccuracy.

THE ALIBI

1. Hannon’s supposed consistency of story.

The C3 letter of 29th September 1987 stated that "Mr. Hannon has always given the same details of his movements on the morning of the murder." The implication of this is that Hannon never supported Steel’s alibi statements.

In fact the "door-to-door" form made out by P.C. Turton indicates that Hannon should have been routinely interviewed in 1977. He was a single man who went to work every morning along the road where the crime occurred. If Hannon had been routinely interviewed, and if he had failed to corroborate Steel’s story about the morning of the murder, Steel would certainly have been questioned again.

The evidence for this series of episodes begins with two door to door inquiries in 1977 by P.C. Turton. At the first interview only Pamela Ward was present - at the second, Anthony Steel was present. During the second interview P.C. Turton filled in the inquiry form.

Steel was asked who could verify his movements. He mentioned Hannon and Pamela Ward, giving Hannon's address as 22, Nottingham Street, Thornbury - an area on the other side of Gain Lane from where Carol was attacked. In the column labeled "officer verifying" P.C. Turton wrote "verified C.G.T.". When this "verified" was inserted is unclear. It is against the name Pamela Ward, but "Eddie Hannon", just above it, is underlined.

However, further indication may be found above it, for under the area which is for office use only is a note " TBV 19/10" indicating "To be verified, 19th October". It would seem therefore that interest in the details on the form was still present a week after it was filled in.

There is no documentary evidence that the police interviewed Hannon in 1977, but that may be because no other door-to-door forms were ever disclosed. However, considering the route Hannon took to work, the police should have interviewed him in any case - because they were interviewing everyone who habitually walked through that area.

One example of what was happening on the estate can be judged from the door to door inquiry form for Steel. Turton took a note about a Pole who worked at English Electric in Thornbury and who went home by the scene of crime every morning. At Pudsey H.Q. this was marked for routine further action. The English Electric works was just along the road from Hannon’s home.

Furthermore, P.C. Turton noted that Pamela Ward had not told the same story on his first visit as she told on his second. That too would normally mean that the second person verifying Steel’s story would be interviewed.

In the light of this, it is difficult to believe that the police did not interview Hannon in the first days of the 1977 investigation, even though he denies it.

Moreover, he seems unduly sensitive on this point. When the Defence solicitor took a statement from him Hannon, apparently unprompted, made a special point of saying that he had never been interviewed by the police in 1977.

If the Commission, with the powers invested in it, reveals evidence that Hannon was routinely interviewed - as would be normal in the circumstances, we believe this shows prejudice in a witness who is central to Steel’s case. It would also demonstrate prejudice on the part of the investigating officers in 1986-87, for they would have had the powers to reveal the truth of this matter.

This petition argues that Hannon’s credibility is suspect - for, as we shall argue later, Hannon changed his version of events as to the end of Steel’s visit home. Hannon’s evidence, rather than "remaining unchanged", actually changed on two substantial points.

Here we simply refute C3’s assertion that Hannon always told the same story.

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THE C3 REPLY -VI:

THE CONFESSION.

The C3 reply stated " The validity of Steel’s confession was considered at length...account has been taken of all the points raised."

Although C3 claimed to have considered all the points, no explanation was given for one of the central issues in this area of the petition.

The judge gave an account of Hobson’s interview to the jury . In particular he told them:

However, the original "Rough Justice" programme, sent to C3, mentioned additional matters:

A thorough investigation by C3 would have revealed that the judge had not mentioned that at the time of the confession, Hobson had before him 3 statements that mentioned Carol’s handbag.

Paul Wilkinson, Carol’s brother said that she had the key ring attached to a brown handbag which he handed over to the police.

Neil Best had said it was on a "dark handbag".

Brian Best had said it was a dark brown handbag - and identified the brown handbag shown him as the one in question.

C3 might then have noted the strange coincidence that these three young men, particularly Paul Wilkinson, made the same mistake that Anthony Steel did. Not so strange however, if we remember that Hobson had had little to do with the case. His first contribution was this interview. The key interviews he would have read at this point would be those identifying the key ring. These were, coincidentally, the same statements which mentioned a brown bag.

This evidence suggests that there must be a lurking doubt that Steel was "fed" the colour of the handbag, either deliberately or by accident.

The TV programme also pointed to significant evidence of items at the scene of crime:

"the girl was half way through her menstrual period and a discarded sanitary towel beside her body indicated that her attacker had been frustrated by this fact. What was also significant was what had been stolen. Carol's purse had gone and so had her diary. Two keys which she used in her office at the bakery were also missing ."

In going through this area of evidence, the judge did not mention these items.

These were the "special knowledge" items that the police would identify routinely in order to test confessions such as had been obtained from Steel. It is inconceivable that a man as experienced as Chief Superintendent Hobson could have gone into the interview room without first learning what the "special knowledge" items were - and subsequently been prompting Steel to come up with them so as to firm up the body of the confession.

The judge thought this approach right and proper:

In fact Hobson’s questions did not mention the above specific items of "special knowledge". The questions indicate his particular interests in this interview:

In addition to this, there was some question as to whether the statement was possibly not a full account of the interview. Steel’s account to his solicitor of this episode suggests a longer session. Steel told his solicitor: " The interview was concluded according to the police at 7:40. I think it was later than that."

The point put to C3 was that the murderer would have known at least some of these "special knowledge" details - in particular the discarded sanitary towel, for that frustrated the attempt at rape. Steel was actually interviewed by Hobson with these omissions in mind; Steel was prompted quite properly to come up with the answers - and he failed to do so.

C3 do not appear to have addressed these difficulties with the confession - and if they did, they certainly did not account for them.

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In summary, the C3 investigation of 1986-87 was wholly unsatisfactory.

C3 failed to address the inadequate nature of the investigation of the key ring evidence. In particular, it did not consider the potential unreliability of the witnesses to the key ring. It failed to properly balance against this the overwhelming evidence that Carol Wilkinson had not owned a key ring of the type presented at the trial of Anthony Steel.

C3 did not properly examine the routes Carol might have taken - indeed, in the light of the shoes and other evidence, the route she would have taken.

Furthermore, C3 did not notice the deceptive nature of the photographs presented by the prosecution at the trial. C3 also failed to see that the prosecution claimed that "near the start of the muck road" was a position two streets away from the end of Ravenscliffe Avenue. Additionally, C3 seemed to be completely unaware of the Harden Grove snicket.

As for the confession, C3 failed to take notice of the deficiencies in the evidence about D.C.S. Hobson and the brown bag, and the other possible "special knowledge" that Steel knew nothing about. Nor did C3 notice the unlikely nature of Hannon’s evidence.