In this bonus episode, I talk to Dr Sandra Lean who is an author (No Smoke, the Shocking Truth about British Justice" and "Innocents Betrayed")and researcher who works tirelessly to help people who have been wrongly convicted.

We talk about how and why she became involved in miscarriage of justice work; the controversial case of Luke Mitchell who was 14 years old when his girlfriend was murdered and he was later convicted of her murder; and other important issues regarding our legal systems.

On Valentines Day 1988, Lynette White was brutally murdered in Cardiff. The police made a public appeal on crime watch and said that they were looking for a white male who was seen by a witness near the scene of the crime with an injured hand/blood on him. However, in November 1988 they charged five innocent black and mixed race men with the murder including, John Actie despite there being no forensic evidence to link any of them to the offence and the blood of an unidentified person being found at the scene.

Although John was acquitted at the trial which took place two years after he was charged, many of the police told the community including Lynette’s family that he had got away with the crime.  The perception of “there is no smoke without fire” continued to haunt John until the eventual killer, who was a white male, was identified in January 2002. What happened was horrific and the level of police corruption regarding the investigation shocked the criminal justice system to its core.

The impact of being wrongly accused of committing any criminal offence can be life changing. Adrian Stone was 21 years old when he was charged and remanded with others in relation to a number of offences. The trial became known as the Cardiff Explosives Conspiracy Trial. In this episode, Adrian shares his story regarding what happened including; being interrogated by police forces from different parts of the Wales & England and MI5, being remanded for two years pending his trial and having to fight to clear his name after he believes evidence was planted at his home address.

In summing up the Judge said; “the central decision you have to make is as to honesty of witnesses. The main contest is between the police and the defendants.” This is a shocking story that shows the lengths some people will go to, to try to destroy an innocent man’s life.