Eddie Gilfoyle HMP Wakefield: Appeal Date Fixed For December

At long last a date for Eddies appeal has been fixed for the 7th December 2000.
The appeal is expected to continue to the 21st December.

After the original investigation by Merseyside Police, (which was dubbed as 'A Keystone Comedy of Errors' by the television programme Trial and Error), Eddies case has been re investigated by the Lancashire Police, the Cheshire Police, the Home Office, the Criminal Cases Review Commission and of course Trial and Error themselves. All of these re investigations have concluded that there is absolutely no evidence to connect Eddie with the death of his wife. The overwhelming conclusion is that Paula tragically committed suicide.

However, this will not stop the Crown Prosecution Service and the Merseyside Police from fighting us every step of the way to the Court of Appeal. It seems, as it is with so with many other cases, that the authorities do not know when to give up. History has shown that the courts will do everything and anything to sustain a verdict brought in by a jury. Dirty tricks and tactics by the police and prosecution are commonplace at the! Court of Appeal. Eddie and his family hope and pray that the three Judges appointed to hear the case, will at least be prepared to listen and will be prepared to apply their own common sense to this case.

It is difficult if not impossible for Eddie and his family to have faith in the Appeal System. Public support is of paramount importance.

Despite what the judiciary say public opinion does focus the mind of those who sit in judgement. You can help Eddie with his last bid for justice by writing to, the Home Secretary, your own MP or indeed the Court of Appeal itself, expressing your concerns about this case. You can also give Eddie support by writing to him at HMP Wakefield, Love Lane, Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

Day of Protest

A day of protest has been organised for the 7th December, the first day of the appeal. We ask that you join us outside the Court of Appeal at 09.30am to show solidarity for Eddie. The Court of Appeal are well used to such protests and sometimes they change the start day of the appeal to the following day. If this happens we will let you know.

The Eddie Gilfoyle Campaign will be arranging transport by coach from Merseyside to the Court of Appeal on 7'h December, returning to Merseyside the same day. Of course this will only be viable if sufficient numbers express an interest to travel on the coach and the more who do will keep the costs to a minimum. If you need any further information then please telephone Sue on 0151 678 6528.

The media will be in attendance and as always we suggest you bring your own campaign material for distribution. Over the years the Eddie Gilfoyle Campaign has provided help and support to many miscarriage of justice cases. No matter what happens at the Court of Appeal in December we will continue to fight for justice for Eddie and for changes to the current judicial system. We will continue to fight for those who have been wrongly convicted.

First they Plant a Rope Now They, Plant a Policeman

Anyone who knows anything about Eddies case knows that a so called, practice rope was planted in the drawer of the garage in which Eddies wife was found hanged.

We as a campaign have been asking the same question for years;

"How did this rope get into the drawer of the garage when weeks before the specialist search team did not find anything?"

Well, as the appeal approaches the police have just come up with the answer.

Sergeant Jones who was in charge of the specialist search team has apparently just remembered seeing a rope in the 'drawer’ of the garage when he was watching his two officers searching it. He states that his two officers asked him if it was needed and he said it was not. His two officers put the rope back in the drawer for it to be found three weeks later by DC Gregson. The two officers who searched the drawer do not remember the conversation with the bold Sergeant Jones and are adamant the rope was never there. Sergeant Jones was in charge of, a whole team of search trained officers, who spent all night rummaging around Eddies house. It is remarkable that at the very moment the two officers opened the drawer in the garage Sergeant Jones was there to witness its contents so that he could come along to the Court of Appeal 8 years later to give evidence of the existence of this crucial piece of damming evidence. Why did he never think to mention it before? Is he up for promotion? Who knows? Do the police seriously expect us to believe this? May, be they do!

Other News

As many of you will know the Eddie Gilfoyle Campaign saw a need to bring together miscarriage of justice cases in Merseyside.

After much discussion and a great deal of help Merseyside Against Injustice (MAI) was formed. MAI is getting stronger by the day with more and more cases becoming involved. It keeps us very busy.

Up and down the country other similar groups exist and we would like to pass on our congratulations to the recently formed Kent Against Injustice. We wish them well. We hope to speak at one of their meetings in the near future.

Eddies Campaign continues to be very busy and we are continually asked to speak at various meetings and rally's.

The meeting in Liverpool over the issue of censorship of the Portia website went very well. The Portia website was forced to close. You will recall that the Police Federation threatened to take civil action against the Service Provider for Portia, unless they removed the Eddie Gilfoyle Case from the internet. The meeting called for a National Campaign against censorship of the internet. Portia has a new website and can be found on www.portia.org

In October we have been asked to speak at a meeting organised by South Wales Liberty. We also look forward to attending a meeting of the Innocent Group in Manchester.

The Eddie Gilfoyle Campaign would like to take the opportunity to thank all our friends and supporters who continue to be a tower of strength. It is your energy, help and generosity that keeps us going.

The Eddie Gilfoyle Campaign