M25 Three Released At Last

"PROFOUNDLY disturbing." That is how the appeal court described Surrey police's conspiracy to jail the M25 Three. The three black men-Raphael Rowe, Michael Davis and Randolph Johnson-walked free on Monday to cheers from family and supporters, after being locked away for a crime they did not commit.

As Raphael said on the steps of the court, "I was 19 years old when I was put in prison. I'm 32 years old now. Twelve years of my life have been lost forever." There has never been any eyewitness or forensic evidence linking Rowe, Davis and Johnson with the "M25" crimes.

Yet the appeal court refused to say that the three men were innocent. Instead it hid behind a legal technicality to say the convictions were "unsafe". The case has again exposed the racism and corruption at the heart of the British justice system. It follows similar miscarriages of justice such as the Guildford Four, the Birmingham Six, the Bridgewater Four, the Tottenham Three and that of Judith Ward.

As Raphael Rowe's solicitor, Jim Nichol, says, "White men did this crime, and yet three black men were convicted of it. That is the heart of this case. The corruption of police officers is also central." Rowe, Johnson and Davis were sentenced to life for the murder of Peter Hurburgh and for a series of violent burglaries, all of which took place in the M25 area in Surrey on the night of 16 December 1988.

The police arrested Rowe, Davis and Johnson after a tip off. This came from a criminal called Norman Duncan, who lived at the same south London boarding house as Rowe and Davis. Duncan was part of a gang of white robbers. This group was also arrested, but never charged. Duncan was a suspect in the crime. But he became the chief witness against the three black men.

The fit up was under way. The state used Public Interest Immunity certificates to prevent the M25 Three's lawyers finding the truth about Duncan. It was not until 1999 that it came out that Duncan had been a police informer who collected a £10,000 reward off the Daily Mail for his part in jailing the three black men. The defence was not told Duncan had spent two days in Reigate police station talking to his police "handler" before the arrests.

Duncan told police that Randolph Johnson was not involved, but they withheld this vital evidence. Reward money was also discussed. Police told Duncan to lie about these meetings. As Lord Justice Mantell said on Monday in the appeal court judgement, Duncan's lies "could only have been in collusion with the police. It amounts to no less than a conspiracy to give perjured evidence. We find the fact profoundly disturbing. It must dent the credibility both of Duncan and the police officers directly involved." Another "witness" against Randolph Johnston was a prisoner called Martin Todd.

He told police that, while they were in jail together, Johnson had admitted to him that he was "involved" in the M25 crimes. Todd lied during the 1990 trial. He said he had multiple sclerosis. He did not. He hoped that he would be put in Brixton jail's hospital wing as a reward. Todd also wrote a note saying that Johnson's accomplices had been "white". But he then crossed out the "white". The appeal court admitted, "It is accepted that the alteration must have been made...at the suggestion of a police officer."

Valerie Davis, Michael's sister, told Socialist Worker on Monday, "We always knew it was the police changing evidence, elaborating evidence and putting pressure on people." The guilty men who framed the M25 Three are still at large.

Doctored truth

CAMPAIGNERS HAVE always asked how it was that three black men were convicted when all the key witnesses had originally told the police that at least two white men had been involved. Did police suggest to witnesses that three black men were "in the frame", and lean on them to alter their stories?

What is certain is that the police withheld vital evidence from the men's defence team. It has now come out that the police did not disclose a description they themselves issued on the night of the murder that "two white men and a coloured man" were responsible.

Chronology

16 December 1988: M25 murder and robberies carried out. 19 December 1988-6 January 1989: Davis, Rowe and Johnson arrested. February 1989: Davis, Rowe and Johnson convicted and sentenced to life in prison July 1993: M25 Three lose their appeal case, with judge saying, "There is no basis for saying there is even a lurking doubt over the safety of the convictions." 1994: Davis and Rowe appeal to European Court of Human Rights. April 1997: the newly set up Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) orders a new investigation to be carried out by Greater Manchester Police. February 2000: European Court of Human Rights rules that Davis and Rowe's human rights had been violated. April 1999: CCRC refers case once again to the appeal court. 14 June 2000: appeal starts. 17 July 2000: the M25 Three walk free.

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