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ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17657 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
 Posted: 01-02-2013 20:07 Post subject: |
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Hes already been cleared of 5 of the murders he was convicted of, now come the final 3. The real killers are still out there.
| Quote: | Sweden retrial for 'serial killer' Sture Bergwall
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21298765
Questions are being asked about the lack of forensic evidence used to prosecute Bergwall
A man once considered Sweden's worst serial killer has won retrials for three murders after withdrawing confessions made in the 1990s.
Sture Bergwall retracted his confessions in 2008, saying they had been made under the influence of medication, to attract attention.
Five other murder convictions have been overturned in the past two years.
Bergwall, who formerly went under the name Thomas Quick, confessed to other murders of which he was not convicted.
On Friday, a court in northern Sweden granted the retrials, citing doubts over Bergwall's confessions.
The convicted killer, who is now 62, told AP news agency he had lied about the murders "to make myself interesting", and while under the influence of heavy medication.
His lawyer, Thomas Olsson, said that if Bergwall was cleared at the retrials, he could be released later this year.
'Scandalous process'
Bergwall was convicted in January 1996 of murdering a Dutch couple, Marinus and Janni Stegehuis, who were stabbed in Appojaure in 1984.
In November 1994, he was convicted of murdering 5-year-old Charles Zelmanovits, who disappeared in Pitea in 1976, and whose remains were uncovered in 1993.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
What we've believed all along has been verified and confirmed, that Quick didn't have anything to do with these murders”
Bjorn Asplund
Father of murder victim
Prosecutors will now examine whether the charges in the two cases should be dropped, at which point a district court will rule as to Bergwall's innocence or guilt.
During therapy, Bergwall admitted to more than 20 other murders committed in Sweden, Norway and Finland, often describing how he butchered his victims and, in at least one case, ate the body parts, Swedish news website The Local writes.
Critics have pointed to the lack of forensic evidence offered at his trials.
Bjorn Asplund, father of 11-year-old murder victim Johan Asplund whom Bergman was cleared last year of killing in 1980, said he had always believed Bergman was innocent.
"What we've believed all along has been verified and confirmed, that Quick didn't have anything to do with these murders," he was quoted as saying by The Local.
Mr Asplund told Swedish radio that "this farce" had gone on for many years, while all along justice officials had known there was something fundamentally wrong. |
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| OneWingedBird Great Old One Joined: 19 Nov 2012 Total posts: 417 Location: Attice of blinkey lights Age: 44 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 23-05-2013 11:10 Post subject: |
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I'm struggling to recall right now the name of the female nurse that was arrested on similar charges a couple of years ago, iirc in that instance she got to rot on remand for a while but was released when the case against her collapsed, although she was dismissed anyway over an apparently unrelated matter.
This guy may not have been so lucky.
| Quote: | 'Angel of Death': New evidence in Colin Norris killer nurse case
Fresh evidence has emerged which challenges the conviction of so-called "Angel of Death" nurse Colin Norris.
Norris was convicted of murdering four elderly women and attempting to kill a fifth, by poisoning them with insulin.
The 37-year-old, of Glasgow, has protested his innocence since his conviction in 2008.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has now been sent evidence of the possibility of hypoglycaemia in older non-diabetic patients.
Two years after BBC Scotland first exposed weaknesses in the prosecution, the new scientific evidence casts further doubt on the conviction.
Norris had been accused of going on a murderous rampage at the Leeds hospitals in which he worked, because he disliked old people.
Despite no direct evidence linking him to any of the patients, he was on shift when they all had similar hypoglycaemic episodes - when the blood sugar drops to dangerously low levels.
Four women, Bridget Bourke, Irene Crooks, Ethel Hall and Doris Ludlam, died - while a fifth, Vera Wilby, recovered from the hypoglycaemic episode, and died later from unconnected causes.
Clockwise, from top left: Bridget Bourke, Irene Crooks, Ethel Hall and Doris Ludlam Clockwise, from top left: Bridget Bourke, Irene Crooks, Ethel Hall and Doris Ludlam
None was diabetic. The prosecution argued that spontaneously-occurring hypoglycaemia was so rare that a cluster of five cases must mean foul play.
The jury accepted this, and Norris was sentenced to life with a minimum 30-year tariff.
But BBC Scotland investigated his case and in 2011 produced a programme which cast serious doubt on the conviction.
Off duty
Professor Vincent Marks, a world-renowned insulin poisoning expert, told me at the time that hypoglycaemia in non-diabetics was much more common than first thought.
We also uncovered evidence of other similar cases of hypoglycaemia which occurred in the hospital where Norris worked but while he was off duty.
The programme's evidence suggested there could have been natural reasons for the deaths.
Norris's lawyer believes the cases used against Norris were "cherry-picked' by police. The evidence was submitted to the CCRC.
Now, a new book - The Case of Colin Norris - has uncovered further evidence. It has been co-written by the producer on the programme Louise Shorter and veteran miscarriage campaigner Paul May, and published by miscarriage group Inside Justice.
The new evidence comes from the geriatric medicine department at Rotherham General Hospital and the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire postgraduate medical school, which has published a review that concludes "hypoglycaemia is not uncommon in hospitalised non-diabetic older people" with other serious conditions.
June Morrison, Norris's mother, has campaigned tirelessly on behalf of her son, and now hopes the fresh evidence will result in the case being sent to the appeal court.
She told me: "People say I brought up a monster. But if I had the least bit of doubt about his innocence I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing.
"I do believe the system will eventually prove there has been a victim of a miscarriage of justice. I do believe that will happen. I've got to believe that."
Science 'flawed'
Paul May, who has worked on some of the biggest miscarriages-of-justice cases in recent times, said: "I chaired the London-based campaign for the Birmingham Six. At the time of their arrest, police said to them 'it's not us, it's the scientists' who stated that some of the Six handled explosives.
"Three decades later, officers used virtually the same words to Colin Norris when claiming he murdered patients in his care with insulin.
"In both cases, the science was flawed. In both cases, the jury was persuaded to deliver guilty verdicts on the basis of erroneous expert evidence."
Former Rough Justice producer Louise Shorter said: "There is no direct evidence that Colin Norris, who before this had not so much as stepped into a police station, hurt anyone.
"The trial was created out of one inadequate blood test from which a case, based on a medical fallacy, was built.
"We now know the medical evidence at trial was wrong. We hope the CCRC will refer his case back to the Court of Appeal before Colin loses too much more of his life."
West Yorkshire Police told the BBC in 2011: "Norris was arrested, prosecuted and on the basis of the evidence presented to the court he was convicted and sentenced."
Norris's campaign team hopes the CCRC will report on his case before the end of the year and refer the case to the appeal court.
From my own perspective, having investigated miscarriage cases for more than a decade - this is one of the most troubling cases I have ever seen.
The central plank of the prosecution is that hypoglycaemia in non-diabetic cases is so rare as to be highly suspicious. The science now casts grave doubt on that claim.
If that plank disappears - the case against Norris is based on very little indeed and must be looked at again. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22619787 |
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| stuneville Administrator
Joined: 09 Mar 2002 Total posts: 10187 Location: FTMB HQ Age: 46 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 23-05-2013 12:08 Post subject: |
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| OneWingedBird wrote: | | I'm struggling to recall right now the name of the female nurse that was arrested on similar charges a couple of years ago, iirc in that instance she got to rot on remand for a while but was released when the case against her collapsed, although she was dismissed anyway over an apparently unrelated matter... |
Rebecca Leighton. In the end she was sacked for nicking stuff from the meds cabinet to self-medicate for a throat condition (naughty, but few in that profession can honestly claim to have never nicked some co-codamol for a headache.) I have four degrees of seperation from her, and the concensus among those that directly know her think she was scapegoated, and when she was proved innocent of the poisonings TPTB thrashed around for any reason to get rid. |
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| Cochise Great Old One Joined: 17 Jun 2011 Total posts: 989 Location: Gwynedd, Wales Age: 57 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 24-05-2013 09:39 Post subject: |
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| stuneville wrote: |
Rebecca Leighton. In the end she was sacked for nicking stuff from the meds cabinet to self-medicate for a throat condition (naughty, but few in that profession can honestly claim to have never nicked some co-codamol for a headache.) I have four degrees of seperation from her, and the concensus among those that directly know her think she was scapegoated, and when she was proved innocent of the poisonings TPTB thrashed around for any reason to get rid. |
Same sort of vindictiveness that is used against whistle-blowers. There are very few people working for any organisation who have not indulged in minor petty theft at some time or another - taking home a pen, using a company envelope for private correspondence etc.
We can assume the police have not restarted the investigation to find the real culprit? |
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| Spudrick68 Great Old One Joined: 08 Jun 2008 Total posts: 1096 Location: sunny Morecambe Age: 45 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 24-06-2013 23:34 Post subject: |
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I followed the case of the West Memphis 3 for a good number of years, having stumbled upon the horrendous story via Henry Rollins. As it's a U.S. case I wouldn't have known about it otherwise. For anyone not aware, two young men spent 18 years of a life sentence in prison (and one on death row) for a crime that they did not commit.
I've just watched a documentary "West of Memphis", and it's worth watching. There are some photographic images that I don't think would be shown on a U.K. documentary though. It's two and a half hours long, it's dispiriting to see such a miscarriage of justice.
I looked at the internet later and found this update:
http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/story/21810828/new-allegations-surface-in-the-west-memphis-3-murders
There is a U.S. documentary on the case "Paradise Lost" but this is what I could get to watch. |
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| sherbetbizarre Great Old One Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Total posts: 1344 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 25-06-2013 00:38 Post subject: |
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I watched Paradise Lost 1 & 2 over one New Years when I had the house to myself... not a good idea... probably the most depressing New Years ever!
But yeah, they are great docs. Have not seen part 3 yet. |
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| Spudrick68 Great Old One Joined: 08 Jun 2008 Total posts: 1096 Location: sunny Morecambe Age: 45 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 25-06-2013 10:08 Post subject: |
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| A forensic scientist stated that it was significant that there was not one strand of DNA from any of the three accused at the scene and that this was significant, but a hair from a step father was found inside one of the shoelaces tying one of the children up. One of the most depressing statements was from someone who stated that, in regards an appeal, they would set the bar so high that the DNA evidence would not be accepted. |
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| sherbetbizarre Great Old One Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Total posts: 1344 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 25-06-2013 11:35 Post subject: |
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| You do know they are out now, right? |
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| Spudrick68 Great Old One Joined: 08 Jun 2008 Total posts: 1096 Location: sunny Morecambe Age: 45 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 25-06-2013 22:44 Post subject: |
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| Sorry, yes I do. But it is how far they went to keep them in, even to them having to admit the charge of manslaughter to be released. How the step father of one of the children is still walking around a free man amazes me. |
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| sherbetbizarre Great Old One Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Total posts: 1344 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 25-06-2013 23:56 Post subject: |
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| Yeah, he seems dodgy as hell in Paradise Lost 2. |
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| Spookdaddy Cuckoo Joined: 24 May 2006 Total posts: 3834 Location: Midwich Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 26-06-2013 19:20 Post subject: |
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Was it this case that it was reported, during the the early days of the investigation, that locals started carrying bibles - kind of obviously, almost ostentatiously - in order to somehow prove that they were 'normal'?
I think it was, or maybe another, but around the same time.
Something about that detail made me sick to my stomach. |
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| Pietro_Mercurios Heuristically Challenged
Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 06-08-2013 20:30 Post subject: |
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Here's a story of a truly amazing and deeply suspicious miscarriage of justice.
| Quote: | http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/one-of-germanys-worst-miscarriages-of-justice-paranoid-husband-mistakenly-held-in-asylum-for-seven-years-is-finally-freed-8748934.html
One of Germany’s worst miscarriages of justice? 'Paranoid' husband mistakenly held in asylum for seven years is finally freed
Gustl Mollath was forcibly committed to psychiatric care in 2006 after a court rejected his claims that bank staff, including his wife, were smuggling millions into Swiss accounts
The Independent. Tony Paterson (Berlin). 06 August 2013
The victim of what may prove to be one of Germany’s worst miscarriages of justice on record has been freed from a psychiatric unit where he had been held prisoner for seven years after exposing his wife’s alleged involvement in a major money-laundering scandal at a Bavarian bank.
In a case reminiscent of a crime novel, Gustl Mollath, 56, was forcibly committed to psychiatric care in 2006 after a court rejected his claims that staff at Bavaria’s HypoVereinsbank (HVB), including his wife, were smuggling millions into Swiss accounts. Instead judges ruled that he was paranoid.
Mr Mollath had been held at the psychiatric unit in Bayreuth until this afternoon when a Bavarian high court ordered his immediate release and dropped all charges against him. “He reacted with great joy,” is how Mr Mollath’s lawyer described his client’s response.
The highly controversial case has been referred to as “The Mollath Affair” since Mr Mollath’s trial in 2006 when he faced charges from his own wife, a HVB assets consultant, that he had attacked her and caused her bodily harm. He was also accused of slashing the car tyres of his opponents.
Mr Mollath denied the charges, claiming his wife was trying to blacken his name in an attempt to refute the evidence he had against her and her bank colleagues. But the court sided with Mr Mollath’s wife.
In subsequent legal hearings, psychiatrists’ reports claiming that Mr Mollath was suffering from a “paranoid personality disorder” were used by lawyers to refute his claims that the bank had been involved in illegal money laundering.
However, last November fresh evidence surfaced from a 2003 audit conducted at the Munich-based bank which suggested that money laundering and assisted tax evasion had been practised by staff for several years. It emerged that a number of bank employees, including Mr Mollath’s wife, were sacked following the bank’s investigation.
The revelations sparked a renewed wave of public interest in the case. Mr Mollath was inundated with letters and emails from thousands of supporters who argued that he was clearly a victim of a gross and unprecedented miscarriage of justice.
The Bavarian high court’s decision to free Mr Mollath followed doubts expressed by Germany’s Federal Prosecutor about judges’ handling of the case. A regional court in Regensburg recently upheld the ruling that Mr Mollath was paranoid, prompting a protest by dozens of black-robed lawyers.
Mr Mollath’s lawyers are expected to reopen the case to enable him to file for financial compensation. |
Just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they are not out to get you. Seven years in an asylum. Who'd be a whistle-blower? |
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| OneWingedBird Great Old One Joined: 19 Nov 2012 Total posts: 417 Location: Attice of blinkey lights Age: 44 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 07-08-2013 18:06 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they are not out to get you. |
He's in the clear of any offenses he was alleged to have committed but it is impossible to get a mental health diagnosis overturned unequivocally... |
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