Ep 29 - A Night in Butetown - The Murder of Lynette White

On Valentine’s Day 1988, in Cardiff’s dockside district of Butetown, Lynette White was murdered inside a flat above a betting shop.

The killing shocked the neighbourhood and placed detectives under immediate pressure to make arrests. Within days, five local men were taken in for questioning. Three would become known as the Cardiff Three.

But as the case moved forward, doubts began to surface — about the investigation, the evidence, and whether the right people had been accused at all.

This week, The Archivist reopens the Butetown file: a murder that unsettled a community and a prosecution that would come to define one of the most controversial chapters in Welsh criminal history.

Links to where to follow and join our Discord!

https://linktr.ee/MurderMostBritish

 

SOURCES

Official reports & judgments 

Mouncher Investigation Report (Horwell QC, 2017)
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a82d6cd40f0b6230269cfa0/mouncher_report_web_accessible_july_2017.pdf

Court of Appeal / High Court Judgment — Mouncher & Others v Chief Constable of South Wales Police
https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Moucher-v-SWP-full-judgment.pdf

Contemporary and retrospective media reporting 

BBC News

Killing led to miscarriage of justice
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3038672.stm

Lynette White case: Police officers’ trial collapses
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-15981541

Lynette White: Corruption inquiry review after civil case
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-33718653

The Guardian

Murder appeal in prostitute case
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1991/jun/21/cardiff-three-wales

Cardiff murder appeal man ‘beaten over head verbally’
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1992/dec/10/cardiff-three-wales

Security guard admits 1988 prostitute murder
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jul/04/ukcrime1

Policemen face charges over Cardiff Three case
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/mar/03/cardiff-three-police-charges

Cardiff Three are completely innocent, says convicted killer
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jul/13/cardiff-three-innocent-lynette-white

Eight former police officers accused of fabricating Lynette White murder case
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jul/06/lynette-white-case-eight-policemen-accused

The Cardiff Three: the long wait for justice
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/sep/17/cardiff-three-five-wait-justice

Police were within rights to investigate Cardiff Three officers, judge rules
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/14/judge-rejects-wrongful-prosecution-claims-of-cardiff-three-ex-officers

Trial of Cardiff Three police collapsed due to human error, inquiry finds
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/18/trial-of-cardiff-three-police-collapsed-due-to-human-error-inquiry-finds

The Independent

Police in court over framing of Cardiff Three
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-in-court-over-framing-of-cardiff-three-2308189.html

An injustice that won’t go away
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/an-injustice-that-won-t-go-away-8034860.html

      Wales Online

Lynette White vanished for five days before body found, corruption trial told
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/lynette-white-vanished-five-days-1820989

Urgent review ordered as £30m Lynette White police corruption trial collapses
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/urgent-review-ordered-30m-lynette-1798844

Wikipedia — Murder of Lynette White
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Lynette_White