MICK McMAHON and DAVID COOPER served ten years and eight months in prison for a murder they did not commit. They had been convicted almost solely on the evidence of Alfred Mathews who had claimed that they and a fourth person, Patrick Murphy, had tricked him into going to Luton where a postmaster was shot dead on September 1969 during an attempted robbery.
had his conviction quashed when fresh alib evidence turned up. Despite the fact this proved conclusively McMahon and Cooper served another eight years in prison before the Home Secretary remitted the rest of their sentences last year.
Even now.
Royal Prerogative of Mercy and not a Queen's Pardon and thus murder. cause célèbre - there were five appeals which was unprecedented in newspaper articles and television programmes.
by Ludovic Kennedy which finally secured the release of the two men on 18 July 1980. Mick McMahon and David Cooper talked to TESSA VAN GELDEREN about their case. The chief officer involved our case Chief was head OTI the Flying Squad at Scotland Yard became Commande soon after our case and years later in 1970 was convicted himself of corruptor.
He was found guilty of receiving money and layUuls the Soho porn king James Humphiies. He was sentenced to eight years, reduced to rive on appeal. He served two in an open prison and came out with his full pension.
certain that Mathews and Drury conspired together work out a case against us three.
The only way they could do that was for Drury to agree with Matthews that he wasn't on the scene of the murder. In actual fact valiews was very was Killed the the man postmaster.
Press At the committal stages the charge against Mathews was withdrawn and ne vecame tne cniel prosecution witness.
Drury was primarily concerned with convicting for the murder because inis was a great feather in his cap.
There was lot of pressure on Drury to convict someone - there was a lot oi press coverage - it had gone five or six weeks no arrests. No-one else has ever been charged the after the Appeal Court quashed Murphy's conviction.
The Commissioner of Police wrote that as far as he was concerned Murphy still involved the was Only over the years that certain facts came to light we'd only trimmed up versions of witnesses' statements at Lic unde For example when (Mick) was first arrested, I was put on identification parade and a woman pickme out. She was about 65 yards from the scene of Socialist Challenge Three years after the original trial Murphy that Mathews was a liar, they have only received the still have convictions for Over the years their case became a legal history, many It was a book 'Wicked Beyond Belief' edited the killing. I had one statement from her. Four years later I find out she made 14 statements.
Her original statement was very, very brief, only made hours after the incident. She'd seen one man and put him in his teens. She couldn't describe him anything. And she would never • be able lo recognise this man again.
nOTe statements, and increasbecame L1UIC detailed.
Photo When Mathews some five or six weeks later picks me out trom a pnoto, lal same day she's brought to police station and makes a truner serener.
She gives a full description of the three men and says she would be able to recognise of them again. (The woman, Mrs cluwiel later received £200 of the reward money TvG).
knew nothing about two witnesses until after the trial. They gave the police descriptions of the driver of the van who they saw quite clearly. They said he was a middleaLcu ¡lall (At the time David was 27, Mick was 25 and Murphy was 26.)
The only middle aged man in the case was MatThese LWU witnesses, Seal and McNair, attended dentification parades for Mick. and Murphy. Drury never Put Mathece on paraded police suppressed these two witnesses.
woen we were waiting for our first appeal come up that Murphy's family managed to get hold of the names of these two and wrote them. Even then, the police 'advised' them to get involved It was only years later that the significance of this came out. Mathews and Drury were working together to get a conviction against us at any cost.
After Murphy's successful ippea November 1973, the Home 5 November 1981 Page 6 the conspiracy that was 'wicked beyond belief' Secretary, Roy Jenkins, referred our case to the Court of Appeal because Mathews' evidence against Murphy was suspect, and mean as 'evidence against us was suspect We lost that appeal iy February 1975. July 1976 the case was again referred back to the court when fresh evidence on behalf of David came to light. That appeal was a TOKA press trial.
There'd been a lot of newspaper on NOW TCOLACUVE the previous appeal was. We'd recalled into the witness tried Mathews appeal was se farcicial that Panorama few weeks later devoted the whole programme to the appeal courts judges were on trial. They looked took a lot of stick over not allowille Mathews recalled, so in 1976 they just opened the doors.
seasoned lawyers were saying never like 1 their lives.
The Appeal Courts had enough of this case and they weren't going enve inemselves afterwards say well, look, you were un fair in that appeal'. In the end the whole case became Ex-Commander Drury has never been charged for his part in a battle between the Home the Appeal Courts. It was like a game concerned about he case and kep it back to the Al The Appea tha they were right and thes in 1978. Merlin Rees was Home Secretary at the time. He wanted to let us out, because wanted to do us any good, but because the thing was becoming such an embarrassment. Rees was just Alfred Mathews who caused two innocent men to spend nearly eleven years of their lives in prison looking for any CALUSC. But the Appeal Court rejected the case again.
Both of us, unknown to each other, had written OK ADOL the case David eventually got lilalluscilli out found its way to Ludovic Kennedy saw what had happened go. book he edited forced the Secretary, William Whitelaw, to release us.
Kennedy's book came out and three weeks we were released. No fresh evidence or anything Everything in tha had been before the court for the last tive vears quashed, ver were itions didn't get our conviction Che Royal Prewere give were Mercy After eleven •years we were thrown out the There she late and told bit of doubt Involved your case, get on with you Ives. No new. no orrer of jobs, nothing. both still unemployed he the only we know who aren't on any kind of parole, no probation officers, nothing But we're still convicted That's demonstrated by climbing scaffolding at the House of Commons on the first anniversary of our release.
Our case isolated saying it's happening every dav of the week, but it happens in quite a number country.
The skulduggery that's done on this other with Mr X, that's like the skulduggery that was done in ours always same corruption on part of the police. It's their own friends being plicated. Any smell of corruption or wrong doing is Covered up their own colleagues. When the smell comes out on the part of the police, Ttip ot the iceberg.
There's a lot of corrupLion oy une bonce Drury got a 101 ot the reward Mathews gave him half nes money his £2,000 share. All that came out later.
tion because in law we got no cullocilsa we still Sane convicted majority of people's eyes we've been cieared. but i that conviction still Prosser was murdered Mick McMahon: I actually spent two nights there during my sentence. In those I said if I had to do any length of time in Winson Green I would have cracked up or ended up dead. They talk to them like dogs there. thought Wandsworth enough but Green is ten times worse. If Wandsworth screws classed as pigs, which some of them are, well, Green.... I don't know how you'd describe them. later book given lifers the by the Life in Winson Green where Barry David Cooper: I was on remand there, in a hospital ward, so you're isolated from the main part of the prison but you could smell it on the air.
Winson are Winson 1: The crime On 16 December 1980, a secu van, containing £800,000 was ambushed of side Kingdale School, Sou cast oden A skip lorry, a hi-jack crane, a stolen car and a Ken ing van were among a numb of vehicles used in the hold-u When the security forced to a halt, the poli pounced.
Hain case.
ed with murdering pardoned.
ing that he would get sentence.
tims is the informer, the agent provocateur.
miscarriage of justice.
victed in what was COOPER.
sentence year. OVER THE last few years there has been growing disquiet on the methods used to get convictions in the courts. The use or misuse of identification parades was highlighted in the Peter The 'confessions' of the three youths chargMaxwell Confait caused great concern and the three were subsequently recently, during the youth riots, an accused man had pleaded guilty to something he hadn't done on the understandbail and a lighter Many such abuses and misuses of the legal system go on. But perhaps the one that is used by the police more and more to 'nail' their vic'supergrass, Socialist Challenge has been investigating one such recent case. Those affected claim a We also print on these pages an interview and an account of the two men wrongly conknown as the 'Luton Murder Case', MICK McMAHON and DAVID They served ten years eight months of a life they had the rest of their sentence remitted by the Home Secretary last William Tobin at his moment of capture. His vendetta against the police has resulted in a grave miscarriage 01