A compelling new true crime documentary series will look into murder of a prostitute and the five men who were wrongfully imprisoned for the crime – so who did kill Lynette White?
A Killing in Tiger Bay examines the senseless murder of Lynette, and how five innocent men were wrongfully convicted of the crime.
The story of the ‘Cardiff Five’ remains one of Britain’s most notorious miscarriages of justice.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Read more: A Killing in Tiger Bay: Crime series about men wrongfully convicted of murdering Lynette White
Who was Lynette White and what happened to her?
Lynette White worked as a prostitute from the age of 14 up until her murder when she was just 20.
Tim Rogers, a BBC Wales journalist, interviewed her a few weeks before her murder as part of an investigation into child prostitution.
He said that Lynette was “probably the most visible prostitute working in Cardiff at the time”, and she even worked on Christmas Day.
Friends described her as “pretty and popular”.
Her boyfriend Stephen “Pineapple” Miller was a cocaine addict who also worked as her pimp.
The two lived together at a flat in Dorset Street, Cardiff.
Lynette was found brutally murdered in a flat in Cardiff’s docklands, also known as Tiger Bay, on Valentine’s Day 1988.
Her killer stabbed her at least 50 times.
Who killed Lynette White? Why were The Cardiff Five convicted?
Police searched for 10 months for Lynette White’s killer.
Despite eyewitness accounts of a white man covered in blood near the scene of the crime, police arrested five local black men.
No forensic evidence linked the men to the crime scene.
They had alibis for the night of the killing and they barely knew each other.
Police claimed they were guilty of murder – but they were innocent.
And it would be years before the true killer was found.
The new BBC documentary series looks at the case of the Cardiff Five – made up of Lynette’s boyfriend Stephen Miller, John Actie, Tony Paris, Ronnie Actie and Yusef ‘Dullah’ Abdullahi.
Tony Paris, Yusef Abdullahi and Stephen Miller – who had the mental age of a child – were eventually sentenced to life imprisonment.
They became known as the ‘Cardiff Three’.
A jury found cousins Ronnie Actie and John Actie not guilty in 1990.
They were acquitted of the murder after spending two years in custody.
Mr Miller, Mr Abdullahi and Mr Paris were convicted and jailed for life but released in 1992 when the Court of Appeal quashed their convictions.
It later became evident that Stephen Miller was interviewed on 19 occasions for a total of 13 hours.
He was denied access to a solicitor for the first two interviews.
Miller confessed to the killing after making 307 denials.
All men were eventually freed – but not before spending years in prison for a crime they did not commit.
Read more: Dennis Nilsen’s prison tapes to air for first time in Netflix true crime documentary
Did the Cardiff Five get compensation?
The Cardiff Five did receive financial compensation.
Each of the five men were initially awarded undisclosed amounts in compensation by the Home Office.
But after the real killer was convicted, the men launched civil proceedings against South Wales Police.
The Cardiff Five and police corruption
Police arrested five retired officers in April 2005, in connection with offences of false imprisonment, conspiring to pervert the course of justice and misconduct in public office.
Four more retired police officers were arrested in connection with their roles in the original murder investigation in April 2005.
More than 30 arrests were made by November 2005, 19 of whom were serving or retired police officers, including one Inspector.
Who killed Lynette White?
In September 2000, police re-opened the Lynette White murder case following a cold case review.
Detectives discovered fresh forensic evidence, including blood on Lynette’s clothes.
In February 2003, police arrested Jeffrey Gafoor for the offence.
At the time, he said: “Just for the record I did kill Lynette White. I’ve been waiting for this for 15 years. Whatever happens I deserve it.”
A judge gave him a life sentence in 2003 and ordered him to serve a minimum of 13 years in jail.
A Killing in Tiger Bay on BBC Two
A Killing in Tiger Bay starts on Thursday, September 9 2021.
The three-part true crime documentary airs at 9pm on BBC Two and BBC One Wales.
On Valentine’s Day 1988, Jeffrey Gafoor brutally murdered 20-year-old Lynette White in Cardiff’s Tiger Bay.
The prime suspect was a single white male but after a ten month manhunt, police arrested five local black men despite having no evidence.
A Killing in Tiger Bay tells the story of the so-called Cardiff Five and their fight for justice.
The first episode centres around the murder and the arrest of the Cardiff Five – all black and mixed-heritage men.
A Killer in Tiger Bay starts on BBC Two on Thursday, September 9 2021.
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