Viewers are left shocked by the case of three teenagers wrongly jailed for murder in the ’70s when ‘police made the rules’ and could interview suspects without a lawyer or tape recorder
- Viewers stunned by Catching Britain’s Killers, which aired last night on BBC2
- Covered Maxwell Confait’s murder and false confessions of three teenagers
- Maxwell Confait, from Catford, Lewisham, was found dead in his bedsit in 1972
- Colin Lattimore, 18, Ronnie Leighton, 15 and Ahmet Salih, 14, arrested for arson
- After police questioning, they ‘confessed’ to arson and murder of Maxwell
- However Colin had an alibi and the convictions were later squashed after appeal
- Viewers stunned by the programme last night, with one calling it ‘unbelievable’
Viewers were left shocked by the behaviour of the police last night after watching a BBC2 documentary which covered the murder case of Maxwell Confait and the subsequent false confessions of three teenage boys.
Last night’s episode of Catching Britain’s Killers: The Crimes That Changed Us, dealt with the murder of Maxwell Confait, from Lewisham, was found dead in his bedsit in 1972.
Three teenage boys Colin Lattimore, 18, Ronnie Leighton, 15, and Ahmet Salih, 14, ‘confessed’ to his murder after being questioned by police with no lawyers or guardians present.
All four were found guilty, but after pressure from campaigners and the media, their convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal in 1975.
The case eventually led to the introduction of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (otherwise known as PACE), which gives suspects the right to have a lawyer present during questioning and that interviews must be taped.
However, in the BBC2 series ‘Catching Britain’s Killers: The Crimes That Changed Us’, viewers were shocked to learn the conditions under which the boys made the confessions, with some calling the behaviour of the police ‘unbelievable.’
One commented: ‘Can’t imagine how scared those three boys must have been. Or how there were no standards for police questioning.’
Another added: ‘Blimey, unbelievable that this could happen. 70s Britain was grim and 80s was not much better. Police left to their own devices.’
They added: ‘I like to think this wouldn’t happen now?’
In 1972, police received a phonecall to a house fire in Catford, Lewisham. In the early hours of the next day, the body of Maxwell Confait had been found.
However, the room that he had been found in had been untouched by the fire and marks on his neck showed that he had been strangled.
Viewers were shocked by the documentary, with many calling the treatment of the boys ‘unbelievable’ and ‘scary’
A murder investigation was launched and soon after Maxwell’s death, the police picked up three teenage boys for lighting a series of small fires nearby.
They were Colin Lattimore, 18, Ronnie Leighton, 15 and Ahmet Salih, 14, who lived close to where Maxwell had been murdered.
The boys were taken in for questioning but in the 1970s, the teenagers were treated like other suspects and had few rights.
They could be interviewed without a lawyer or a parent or guardian present and the police could interrogate them for as long as they wanted.
Colin Lattimore, 18, Ronnie Leighton, 15, and Ahmet Salih, 14, made false confessions to murder under police interrogation
Interviews took place in cell blocks and with no independent witnesses, the only version of what was said during the interrogation came from the police themselves.
Barrister Jonathan Caplan QC said: ‘The culture was that the police decided how the suspects were treated.
‘They decided how the interrogations were conducted. They decided what rules to apply. Everything was at the discretion of the officer in charge of the case.’
Following hours of interrogation, each boy admitted to the small fires that had been started in the Catford area and confessed to the fire at Doggett Road and the murder of Maxwell.
The teenagers were arrested on suspicion of arson and the murder of Maxwell Confait in 1972, after he was found dead in his flat
Maxwell as found dead in his flat in Deptford, where he was found to have strangulation marks on his neck
The families of the boys were called to the police station to sign the statements to validate the police’s account of what happened.
Colin’s brother Gary recalled how his parents knew Colin – who had learning difficulties – hadn’t committed the crime he had been accused of and falsely admitted to.
‘No way was Colin capable of murdering anyone. He was scared of his own shadow.
‘Colin couldn’t read or write. He didn’t act like an 18-year-old man, he was more like an eight-year-old. He was a boy in a man’s body.’
However, Colin, Ahmet and Ronnie were all charged with murder and went on trial for the crimes.
Gary Lattimore said his brother Colin was ‘incapable’ of murdering anyone, saying: ‘He was scared of his own shadow’
Despite them all protesting their innocence and Colin having an alibi for the time Maxwell was killed, the jury took just three and a half hours to deliver guilty verdicts for all three teenagers.
Ahmet was sentenced to four years at a reformatory centre, Ronnie was convicted of murder and Colin was convicted of manslaughter with diminished responsibility.
Both Ronnie and Colin received life sentences.
Shocked by the result, Colin’s dad George wrote letters to The Queen and members of the parliament to try raise awareness of the case and the miscarriage of justice he believed took place.
Jonathan Caplan QC was assigned to Colin’s case to overturn the miscarriage of justice and helped determine the truth behind Maxwell’s time of death
The three teenagers went on to be declared innocent of all charges after appeal judges quashed their convictions in October 1975
Fortunately, one of George’s letters reached the National Council of Civil Liberties and Jonathan Caplan QC was assigned to his case.
Wanting an independent forensic review to determine the truth behind Maxwell’s time of death, Jonathan enlisted the help of Professor Donald Tear, a pathologist whose findings went against the initial findings that had been made by another pathologist Dr Cameron.
At the same time, the case gained media attention when Labour MP Christopher Price took the story to Thames Television.
An episode of This Week – which was watched by eight million people at the time – was dedicated to the case which resulted in speculation about how and why the three teens made false confessions.
Viewers were shocked by Catching Britain’s Killers: The Crimes That Changed Us last night, and called the treatment of Colin Lattimore, 18, Ronnie Leighton, 15, and Ahmet Salih, 14, ‘unbelievable’
Labour MP Christopher Price took the story to Thames Television and helped campaign for the boys innocence
In it, Professor Tear confirmed that Maxwell’s time of death would have been around 8 or 9 o’clock not between 6.30 and 10.30pm as stated by the previous pathologist.
With press attention mounting, the case was sent to the Court of Appeal and was successfully heard in the Royal Courts of Justice.
On 17 October 1975, after listening to the new evidence which saw Colin’s alibi stand up, the appeal judges quashed the convictions and declared the boys innocent of all charges.
Gary said he and his parents were always sure of his brother’s innocence, saying: ‘My parents absolutely knew Colin hadn’t done it’
As the story made headlines in newspapers across the country, the false confessions from the three teens raised fundamental questions about the police conduct and the wider justice system.
One month after the appeal, an inquiry was launched into the case and was led by top judge Henry Fisher.
The inquiry set to find out how the boys confessed to something they didn’t do.
The wrongful conviction of Colin, Ronnie, and Ahmet led to the introduction of the Police Criminal Evidence Act 1984
As the findings were revealed, Fisher publicly criticised how the boys were treated by the police but in an unexpected turn of events, he also claimed that the boys were involved in the fire and the murder of Maxwell.
What is PACE?
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (otherwise known as PACE) was introduced.
The aim of PACE is to establish a balance between the powers of the police in and the rights and freedoms of the public.
It safeguards suspects by giving them the right to have a lawyer present during questioning, taping the interview and having a parent or guardian present during an interview with a suspect under the age of 16.
As well as the Maxwell Confait case, the 1981 Brixton Riots also acted as key factors in the passage of the act.
The Royal Commission went on to investigate police powers and when the Royal Commission published its recommendations about police reform, the government was quick to draft a new bill turning its findings into law.
As a result, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (otherwise known as PACE) was introduced.
The act safeguards suspects by giving them the right to have a lawyer present during questioning, taping the interview and having a parent or guardian present during an interview with a suspect under the age of 16.
Speaking of the act which has transformed the way suspects are treated, former Magistrate Baroness Hayter said: ‘This was all extraordinarily quite new but one has to remember that partly it came from a tragedy, it came from a miscarriage of justice in the Confait case.
‘Maybe the lesson is that it takes a crisis to make a change happen.’
Viewers were shocked by the case and the behaviour of the police, with many taking to Twitter to reveal their horror.
One commented: ‘Thank God things have moved on. Scary stuff back then.’
Another added: ‘Watching Catching Britain’s killers already astonishing what the police could do in 72.’
Source: Read Full Article
