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azzuri · 'Our Scotland' Fossil Joined: 12 Sep 2005 Posts: 3776

see - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4503098.stm

A man who spent 18 years in jail for a murder which he did not commit has called for a public inquiry into the case.

George McPhee, from Linconshire, was jailed for life in 1985 for the killing of Elizabeth "Totsie" Sutherland at her home in Culbokie on the Black Isle.

His case for justice was supported by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC).

Appeal judges said he was the victim of a "grave miscarriage of justice".

Mrs Sutherland was known as "Totsie" because she was only 4ft 9in tall.

The 30-year-old mother-of-two had been repeatedly stabbed in the chest and had her throat cut.

Her body was discovered by her 10-year-old daughter when she returned from school.

Mr McPhee, 50, had been brought up a few miles from the scene but was living in Linconshire at the time of the murder.

He was convicted following evidence from Detective Superintendent Andrew Lister, which has since been discredited.

The police officer, who died five years ago, told the original trial that a footprint in Mrs Sutherland's garden matched Mr McPhee's size nine shoes and that it had been confirmed by forensic scientists.

However, a laboratory report on a plaster cast of the footprint was found to state that the interpretation of size was "impossible".

The document was withheld from the trial.

'Serious questions'

The appeal judges also dismissed the evidence of Colin Hawkins, who was with Mr McPhee on the day of the murder, and prisoner Trevor Proudfoot who claimed there had been a prison confession.

Accompanied by his wife Pauline and sons George, 24, and Andrew, 23, Mr McPhee demanded a public inquiry after hearing the appeal court judges' ruling in Edinburgh.

He said: "I feel great now but a bit disappointed that we don't know what happened, how it came about that I was in prison for 18 years.

"I want a public inquiry to find out exactly what happened.

"I hope they get the person that committed the murder because he is still out there or she is still out there."

His solicitor, Robbie Burnett, added: "George is entitled to know exactly what happened, how he was wrongly convicted of this crime.

"There are very many serious questions which remain unanswered here."

And yet they want to allow the locking up of innocents with NO evidence. Rolling Eyes

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