For the best part of the last four years James Bla

For the best part of the last four years James Blake and
Francis Hart have languished in prison cells for a killing
they had nothing to do with.

They had told their murder trial jury that they were
innocent and had been framed by a corrupt detective at Stoke
Newington police station.

But what seemed like overwhelming evidence at the time
led an Old Bailey jury to find them both guilty of manslaughter
in February, 1990.

Mr Hart, now 35, was jailed for 10 years and Mr Blake,
now 61, was given a discount because of his failing heart and
received eight years.

They were also convicted of burglary and received
concurrent terms of three years.

But today (Monday) they both had their convictions quashed
after the Court of Criminal Appeal heard they were ‘set up’ by a
bent detective constable and should never have been jailed.

Det Con Roy Lewandowski, 31, from Stoke Newington police
station, stole evidence from the dead man’s flat and planted it in
the homes of Mr Blake and Mr Hart.

That evidence was the basis of the Crown’s case against the
pair.

One of the most alarming features of this miscarriage of
justice was that the police forensic expert for the Crown, Ms Kamala
De Soyza, had expressed concern before the trial about a
‘remarkable number of coincidences’ linking Mr Blake and Mr Hart
with the killing.

Her worries were not disclosed to the defence before the
trial.

Ms De Soyza has since made a statement about her concerns which
led to further shocking evidence of corruption from Det Con
Lewandowski’s former wife.

‘His former wife has given evidence of removal by Lewandowski
of items from the home of the deceased to his own home,’ said
Mr Karl Scholz, counsel for Mr Blake.

‘Also, she has said that during the investigation Lewandowski
had embarked on a course of rewriting the exhibits book.

‘The evidence which linked Mr Blake with this crime can no
longer be relied upon.

Therefore the conviction can no longer be
relied upon.

‘
Mr Justice Taylor, the Lord Chief Justice of England, said it
was ‘worrying’ that Ms De Soyza’s concerns had not been acted upon before
the trial.

The Crown did not oppose today’s appeal following
the discovery last year of Det Con Lewandowski’s corruption.

The officer is now serving an 18-month jail term after he was
convicted of theft of the evidence and other items from the dead man’s
flat, at Harrow Crown Court on November 28, 1992.

It is unclear whether continuing investigations, called
Operation Jackpot, into alleged corruption at Stoke Newington
police station will lead to any further charges.

But one thing was made clear today.

Solicitors for Mr Blake
said outside court that they would sue the Metropolitan Police, namely
Det Con Lewandowski, for damages for wrongful arrest and malicious
prosecution.

Mr Hart, unemployed, of Riverdale, Erith, Kent, walked free
from court today after spending the last four years and six months
in jail.

Mr Blake had already been released from prison last year after
serving three years, 10 months and 27 days of his eight-year
sentence.

Both men were ‘delighted’ with the quashing of their
convictions, but still bitter about the injustice.

‘Of course I am pleased.

But how could any compensation wipe
away the last four years of my life in jail?’ Mr Hart said outside
court.

‘My child was only two years old when I went to court.

Now he’s
six.

I’ve missed that time of growing up and I can never get it back.

‘
Mr Blake, his arm around his wife, fought back tears when
explaining the shattering effect on his family of his conviction.

‘It has ruined our lives,’ he said, wiping his eyes.

‘It has been very hurtful.

‘I’m physically handicapped for life because of it.

‘
Mr Blake, who takes medication for angina after a heart attack
in 1988, said: ‘Of course I am angry for serving a sentence for a
crime I did not commit.

‘How can one forget those four years in jail.

‘
The case which led to the injustice centred on the brutal
death of 64-year-old recluse Mr David Berman.

Mr Berman was found dead in his flat above a shop in Lower
Clapton Road, Clapton, on July 8, 1988.

He had been tied to a chair, blindfolded, gagged and choked
with a ligature around his neck by burglars, who had ransacked
his flat and taken most of his belongings, including some
antiques, stamps and coins.

At the Old Bailey trial, the Crown claimed that the owner
of the flat, a Mr Ray Rose, wanted Mr Berman to move out so he could
develop the site.

Mr Blake and Mr Hart deliberately burgled Mr Berman’s flat
to ‘rough him up’ and scare him off.

Police inquiries, in which Det Con Lewandowski played a key role,
led to the questioning and arrest of Mr Blake and Mr Hart, both of whom
had criminal records.

Mr Hart was a convicted robber and Mr Hart was a burglar.

When police searched Mr Blake’s home in Sidcup, Kent, Det Con
Lewandowski ‘found’ one of the dead man’s stolen gold coins in an
ashtray.

During a search of Mr Blake’s former address in Upper Clapton
Road, Clapton, Det Con Lewandowski again ‘found’ incriminating
evidence – this time a piece of ripped bed sheet which forensic
tests perfectly matched with the dead man’s torn bed sheet.

‘It was a mechanical fit,’ said Mr Justice Taylor.

Blake was then interrogated by police during four intense
interviews.

Police refused him access to a solicitor, would not let him
take his medication for angina even though they had been told to do
so by the police doctor, and did not tape the interviews, which meant
there was no independant account of what happened.

Police claimed at the trial that Mr Blake broke down during
the fourth interview and confessed to the ‘burglary going wrong’.

However, Mr Blake never made any such confession and in fact
was put under such stress that he had an angina attack and collapsed.

He was rushed to hospital.

After his recovery, he refused to sign the statements police
had taken.

Mr Hart suffered a similar set-up.

Det Con Lewandowski ‘found’ a newspaper clipping at the
defendant’s home, which perfectly matched a newspaper in the
dead man’s flat.

The Crown had claimed at trial that this was compelling
evidence that Mr Hart was involved in the burglary which led
to Mr Berman’s death.

Police also claimed that Mr Hart confessed to the burglary
and killing to another prisoner while on remand at Brixton prison.

However, Mr Hart maintained that he never discussed the case
with anyone let alone confessed.

The other prisoner, the court heard, had an appaling criminal
record for dishonesty.

Both Mr Blake and Mr Hart admitted to the jury that they had
criminal records for burglary and robbery but pointed out that they
had no history of violence.

They claimed they had never been to the victim’s flat and had
never before seen the gold coin, the strip of ripped sheet, or
newspaper cutting until the trial.

‘They maintained that the police must have planted the items’,
said Mr Justice Taylor.

‘The defence case was that clearly it had been a set up,’
said Mr Scholz.

The judge said the other grounds for appeal, namely the trial
judge’s summing up to the jury, and the admissibility of interview
evidence, ‘faded into the background in view of what happened after
the trial’, referring to Det Con Lewandowski’s conviction.

‘It was he (Lewandowski) who was the exhibits officer involved
in the discovery of the coin and the recovery of the strip of
sheet,’ the judge said.

‘Lewandowski was also deeply involved in the discovery of the
newspaper cutting.

‘On November 28, 1992, at Harrow Crown Court, Lewandowski
was convicted of having stolen items from the home of the victim.

‘He had also rewritten the exhibits book.

‘That being the case the Crown has very properly not sought
to uphold these convictions.

‘It is with deep regret that any police officer should have
behaved in this way.

‘
He said the evidence at the trial was ‘tainted’.

‘The only course we can take is to allow these two appeals
against conviction,’ he said.

ENDS
Note: Mr Blake and his solicitors have refused to give his exact address
in Sidcup.

ends note: