Gilfoyle diary ‘still a mystery’
The Times Newspaper. By Dominic Kennedy. 20th January 2012
The Chief Inspector of Constabulary has been called in after a police force was accused of sitting on evidence that could have cleared a man imprisoned for murdering his pregnant wife.
It emerged yesterday that 20 years after Eddie Gilfoyle was arrested for hanging his wife, Paula, and making it look like suicide, police are still unable to explain how her diary was seized and then kept secret. The box of evidence was withheld from Gilfoyle, 50, as he fought two unsuccessful appeals. Police also failed to provide it to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Gilfoyle is now free on parole. Merseyside Police last week asked the Independent Police Complaints Commission to look into the failings, but yesterday the watchdog said the case fell outside its powers. It added: “The circumstances surrounding the seizure and retention of the box remain unclear.
“We understand the Chief Constable of Merseyside Police has asked Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary to identify another police force to conduct a full review.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- The IPCC Press Statement 19/01/2012:
IPCC
Issue Date: 19/01/2012:
IPCC advises Merseyside Police that Eddie Gilfoyle referral is not valid:
The Independent Police Complaints Commission received a referral from Merseyside Police on Friday 13 January 2012 in relation to the seizure and retention of a box containing the personal effects of Mrs Paula Gilfoyle. Mrs Gilfoyle died in 1992 and in 1993 her husband, Eddie Gilfoyle, was convicted of her murder and was imprisoned until December 2010. The box however was not provided to Mr Gilfoyle's legal team by Merseyside Police until the summer of 2010.
We have examined this referral and it is evident that, at this time, it does not constitute a valid referral under the Police Reform Act. A matter can only be referred to the IPCC either where there is a formal complaint or where the police force has recorded a conduct matter where there is an indication that a person serving with the police may have committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner which would justify disciplinary proceedings.
We have advised Merseyside Police of our decision and outlined the options open to them.
The first is should Mr Gilfoyle lodge a formal complaint we would expect the matter to be re-referred to us.
Secondly, as the circumstances surrounding the seizure and retention of the box remain unclear we understand the Chief Constable of Merseyside Police has asked Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary to identify another police force to conduct a full review. The IPCC has no legal power to conduct or oversee this general review.
We have asked that whoever is appointed to conduct the review considers whether there is an indication that a person serving with the police may have committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner which would justify disciplinary proceedings. If the review finds such an indication the force should record those matters and refer them to the IPCC for our consideration.
In addition we are aware the Criminal Cases Review Commission is conducting its own review of Mr Gilfoyle's case and should that identify potential criminal or misconduct matters by persons serving with the police the matter can be referred to the IPCC.
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Issue Date: 19/01/2012
RESPONSE FROM FORCE FOLLOWING IPCC DECISION ON REFERRAL
A spokesperson for Merseyside Police said: "Merseyside Police can confirm that the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has looked at the voluntary referral made on 13 January 2012.
"The IPCC has subsequently informed the force that at this stage they are content for the force to proceed with a proposed independent external review in to how disclosure (in relation to the Paula Gilfoyle murder investigation) has been managed.
"If any misconduct issues are identified as a consequence of the external review the matter will be referred back to the IPCC.
"Merseyside Police has asked Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary for assistance in finding an outside force to conduct the review."
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PRESS RELEASE - 19/01/2012
Eddie Gilfoyle – Non Disclosure of Material by Merseyside Police
This is a press statement by Eddie Gilfoyle in response to the news today of the IPCC response to the Merseyside Police referral to them on the matter of non disclosure of material held for 16 years including a black metal box containing personal papers and diaries belonging to Paula Gilfoyle. “After 18 years of protesting my innocence the last thing I want is any further delay in my case being considered for Appeal. I look forward to the CCRC making progress. I do of course wish to know, as I am sure do the public, where this metal box and Paula Gilfoyle’s diaries have been for all these years, who dealt with it, why it was not provided to the CCRC and whether it was provided to the CPS for both my appeals”.
Sent from his solicitors, Birnberg Peirce & Partners.
Please sign our PETITION (Click here!) to get justice for Eddie! Already 2,000 signatures! Please sign!!!
In June 1992, Paula Gilfoyle was found hanging in the garage of her marital home in Upton, Wirral. An anguished hand-written suicide note was left to her husband, Eddie Gilfoyle, which told Eddie not to blame himself and to find happiness without her. Merseyside Police who attended the scene were confident that it was a suicide and so were extremely cavalier with the physical evidence. No photographs were taken, evidence was removed from the scene and destroyed and mandatory police procedures were not carried out.
Over the next couple of days, friends and family of Paula came forward to explain how happy Paula was to be expecting a child and that she would never of done this, it must be murder, by her husband Eddie's hand. And so the case begun against Eddie Gilfoyle.
Eddie has been in prison for 18 years, has had two appeals and although is now released he will never be free until his conviction is overturned and he has cleared his name.
At the House of Lords press conference in March 2011, Eddie said to the media:
“I am no longer in jail but I will always be a prisoner while this conviction is over my head. I never killed my wife and I never killed my baby. When the Merseyside Police messed up the scene of my wife's death and destroyed all the evidence they knew that there would be consequences and ramifications because of their actions”.
There were three crucial parts to Eddie's trial that helped to convict him according to the prosecution:
1. At the time, suicide in pregnancy, especially late pregnancy was, according to the prosecution, unheard of.
2. Family and friends of Paula came forward to paint a happy and bubbly picture of Paula who was very much looking forward to having a baby. They couldn't believe that she would be capable of doing this and the jury were led to believe this.
3. The prosecution told the court, that Paula Gilfoyle was far too short and too pregnant to throw a rope around a beam to hang herself, even aided by the ladder that was found behind her at the scene. The police put together a short video of a police woman trying to attempt to do this and showed a struggle to emphasise this point to the jury. They said that Eddie Gilfoyle convinced his wife at 8 months pregnant to put a noose around her neck, the other end of which was tied to a roof beam in the garage and when she was comfortable with that he then took her by surprise and grabbed her legs thereby suspending her from the ground and held her until she passed away. They told the jury that the suicide note that was written by her own hand was dictated to her by Eddie and they made up an elaborate story that his job as an auxiliary nurse in the hospital he worked in was part of a course he was doing and that he made her write it for this supposed course.
Eddie's conviction was based on hearsay and made up stories. Back in 1992 we just thought that the judicial system had simply made a dreadful mistake. Our great British Justice System will easily see that the jury got it wrong and all we needed to do was show them where they had got it wrong and they would simply sort it out and then Eddie would be allowed home. After all, there were safeguards built into the system to overturn wrongful convictions and as long as we followed the rules and waited patiently for the wheels of justice to slowly turn, it would all work out right in the end. How naïve we were to think that our so-called great British State worked like that.
Our argument to his case is:
1. Crucial evidence that could have proved Eddie's innocence was removed and/or destroyed from the scene, such as the rope that was around Paula's neck. This could have helped to show whether or not she was assisted by the way the knot would have been tied. When asked for this crucial evidence, the Police said that it had been destroyed. No photographs were taken of the scene so experts could not properly analyse the scene.
2. The suicide note was in Paula's own handwriting. Professor David Canter who initially helped to convict Eddie in his first trial has since had access to further notes and evidence that we have eventually managed to obtain from the police, and from this he has bravely changed his statement and firmly believes now that the note written was by Paula, unaided. Had he had access to this at the trial, perhaps the outcome of Eddie's trial would have been a lot different. He also now believes due to modern studies that the thought that pregnant women don't hang themselves is now nonsense and in fact, pregnant woman are at a higher risk to commit suicide when they are in their later stages of pregnancy, the most common form of suicide in pregnant women is by hanging.
3. With the help of The Times newspaper, we have pressured the Merseyside Police to give us crucial notes and evidence that was hidden from trial, either told to be lost or that 'they didn't have them'. Under the 'Freedom of Information Act', The Times have found that part of the evidence obtained from the Police gives Eddie an alibi from the doctor that examined Paula's body at the scene as he states that the time of death was recorded at a time when it was impossible for Eddie to kill her as he was at work. We have also pieced together information that portrays Paula in a completely different light to this happy, bubbly, care-free woman that was portrayed at the time of trial.
We have recently sent key pieces of evidence to the CCRC and are pleading with them to look through this evidence to help Eddie clear his name, but the fight still continues as the system keeps trying to close down any developments we have. Eddie has already been gagged once by the system, saying that if he speaks to the Media that he will be reprimanded and sent back to jail. What have they got to hide? It seems they are terrified that the truth will eventually come out. This didn't work and the gag was lifted due to the pressure that the media and Eddies lawyers put on the system.
He cannot fight his case if he is 'gagged' or put back into jail and this is exactly the intention of the justice system to keep him from bringing the truth to light. We will not and cannot allow this to happen.
It has taken years, nearly two decades to get crucial information from the Police while Eddie has been behind bars waiting patiently, knowing that the truth will eventually come out. All of this evidence and more has been the crux of this case and we are more determined than ever now for our voices to be heard, we believe with help from the media and from people like us that will not stand for innocent people to be punished for the misdoings of the police, we will eventually get justice. But we need your help. We have been campaigning since 1992 and we are prepared to fight until the very end, we will not give up on Eddie and we will not give up on getting the truth out to the British public.
People need to know what the Police and the justice system are capable of doing to a person's life and their family's to save face of not admitting what they have done wrong. We humbly ask you, please help us, please help us get the message out to the country to stop this from happening to you or your family's. What would you do if it was your son? Your brother? Your uncle? Would you turn a blind eye and give up or would you fight for what is right until the very end?
We have a petition online, please sign it if you would like to help us get justice for Eddie. We are aiming for 5,000 signatures. Thank you.
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