INNOCENT Eddie Gilfoyle
The Official Campaign Website
12. Conclusion
In August 2010, Eddie’s lawyer submitted extensive representations supporting his innocence to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) the body empowered to examine alleged miscarriages of justice and decide whether convictions should be referred to the Court of Appeal. At January 2015, the CCRC had still not made a decision in Eddie’s case.
The case against Eddie Gilfoyle rested on improbable hypotheses which rapidly descended into absurdity. Details of a flagrantly incompetent investigation at the scene of death were not disclosed by Merseyside Police. In their zeal to secure a murder conviction, police and prosecution ignored vital evidence. Prison authorities’ negligence ensured that Eddie Gilfoyle was barely able to follow his own trial. Crucial material was not revealed over two decades including refusal to provide details from Lancashire Police’s re-investigation of the case.
Had the jury been aware of the mass of evidence pointing to Eddie Gilfoyle’s innocence which has emerged since his trial, it is inconceivable that they would have convicted him. Moreover, since 1992, public understanding of suicide has grown considerably. In recent years, there have been several cases of suicide affecting high-profile individuals who outwardly appeared successful and contented. The argument that a ‘bubbly’ pregnant woman like Paula Gilfoyle could not kill herself is considerably less compelling in light of current knowledge.
The inescapable conclusion arising from the facts as they are now known is that no offence was committed against Paula Gilfoyle. The initial belief that her death was a tragic suicide was correct. For over twenty years, Eddie Gilfoyle has endured the nightmare of wrongful conviction for killing his wife and unborn child. The evidence on which he was convicted has been comprehensively refuted.
Justice demands that his case must be referred back to the Court of Appeal and his conviction quashed without any further delay.
