Delusions of Innocence

Michael O'Connell

Description

The case of Stefan Kiszko casts a dark shadow over British justice. Totally unconnected to the murder of which he was convicted-that of a young girl Lesley Molseed-he spent 16 years in prison tormented as a sex-offender and suffering from what one expert described as 'delusions of innocence'.

Sujets

• Droit et juridique
• Legal history

Informations

• Publié par: Waterside Press
• Date de parution: 04 septembre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781910979358
• Langue: English

Extrait

Delusions of Innocence
The Tragic Case of Stefan Kiszko
Michael O’Connell
Copyright and publication details
Delusions of Innocence: The Tragic Case of Stefan Kiszko
Michael O’Connell
ISBN 978-1-909976-46-7 (Paperback)
ISBN 978-1-910979-35-8 (Epub ebook)
ISBN 978-1-910979-36-5 (Adobe ebook)
Copyright © 2017 This work is the copyright of Michael O’Connell. All intellectual property and associated rights are hereby asserted and reserved by him in full compliance with UK, European and international law. No part of this book may be copied, reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, or in any language, including in hard copy or via the internet, without the prior written permission of the publishers to whom all such rights have been assigned worldwide.
Cover design © 2017 Waterside Press.
Main UK distributor Gardners Books, 1 Whittle Drive, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6QH . Tel: [phone]; [e-mail] ; www.gardners.com
North American distribution Ingram Book Company, One Ingram Blvd, La Vergne, TN 37086, USA. Tel: [phone]; [e-mail]
Cataloguing-In-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book can be obtained from the British Library.
Printed by Lightning Source.
e-book Delusions of Innocence: The Tragic Case of Stefan Kiszko is available as an ebook and also to subscribers of Myilibrary, Dawsonera, ebrary, and Ebscohost.
Published 2017 by
Waterside Press Ltd.
Sherfield Gables
Sherfield-on-Loddon
Hook, Hampshire
United Kingdom RG27 0JG
Telephone [phone]
E-mail [e-mail]
Online catalogue WatersidePress.co.uk
Table of Contents
Copyright and publication details ii
Publisher’s note iv
Acknowledgements v
About the Author vii
The author of the Foreword vii
Dedication ix
Foreword xi
1 An Overview of the Case 15
2 The Main Players 35
3 Two Material Witnesses 39
4 Three Days’ Events — 3 and 4 October and 5 November 1975 45
5 Police Interrogation 59
6 More Questions 69
7 A Confession to Murder 97
8 The Medical Evidence and Dr Edward Tierney 115
9 Further Events 121
10 Stefan’s ‘Detention’ at the Police Station 135
11 The Court Hearings 139
12 Preparations for Trial 143
13 Advice on Evidence 149
14 The Trial 157
15 The Trial Judge Sums Up 185
16 The First Appeal Against Conviction 195
17 The Fight Goes On 213
18 The Truth at Last? 225
Appendix 1: Exhibit One — Stefan Kiszko’s Draft Statement 235
Appendix 2: Exhibit Two — Stefan’s Confession Statement 247
Appendix 3: Exhibit Three — Stefan’s Retraction Statement 251
Appendix 4: Further Documents Viewable at WatersidePress.co.uk 255
Index 256
Publisher’s note
The views and opinions expressed in this book are those of the author entirely and are not necessarily shared by the publisher. Readers should draw their own conclusions about all claims made or any facts or opinions stated in the book concerning which the possibility of alternative interpretations, narratives, terminology or descriptions should be borne in mind.
Acknowledgements
Many people have helped me with writing this book. I thank them all. At the forefront are two old friends and colleagues, Professor Terence Walters BL, LLM, LLB, and Phil Huxley LLM, LLB. Their knowledge of police powers, criminal law, evidence and procedure is truly immense, and their expertise in these areas was invaluable as I trod through the minefield of facts and law applicable to this case. My most grateful thanks also to Dr Edward Tierney and Dr David Anderson for granting me access to their notes and sharing their recollection of a case in which they had direct involvement in events and formidable insight into their meaning.
The views on the law expressed in this book, and the interpretation of the facts as disclosed in the evidence are, however, mine alone.
I owe an immense debt to the law firm of Stephensons, Solicitors LLP for allowing me access to the original papers in this case and above all to their litigation partner, Campbell Malone. He and his colleagues at Stephensons enjoy an international reputation for their splendid and courageous work, righting the wrongs of many miscarriages of justice in the criminal justice system in England and Wales. They prove that those who search for the truth with determination and dedication, even in the face of great public hostility, will frequently prevail.
Campbell Malone promised Stefan Kiszko’s mother Charlotte, just before she died, that he would do his best to ensure that Stefan’s case was never forgotten. If this book helps in the keeping of that promise then all the time and effort involved in its writing will be worthwhile.
When I asked Campbell who he thought had wounded Charlotte Kiszko the most — the Nazis who invaded her native Yugoslavia when she was a young girl or the criminal justice system in her adopted country to which she fled seeking safety — he replied with her amazing story; she arrived in this country and started work in the cotton mills of Rochdale, was struck down by byssinosis, then lost her son to a monstrous miscarriage of justice. Nevertheless, he said, becoming the inaugural Rochdale Woman of the Year was the proudest day of her life, after Stefan’s successful appeal. She was ‘a truly indomitable woman’. I trust that few who read this book will disagree with that. She died in May 1994, aged 70, some 20 weeks after Stefan’s sudden and unexpected death at the family home. The inscription on her tombstone reads ‘A loving wife and a very devoted mother’. She died as she lived, for Charlotte Kiszko remains forever a shining example of a mother’s love for her son.
Michael O’Connell
June 2017
About the Author
Michael O’Connell was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1966 and to that of the Republic of Ireland in 1977. He was a pupil in 1 Temple Gardens in London where the head of chambers was one of the UK’s most famous advocates and prosecutors, Christmas Humphreys. He was for a number of years honorary legal adviser to the Catholic Social Services for Prisoners, a charitable organization that helps serving prisoners and their families. He has a Masters Degree for his research in the area of arrest, interrogation and detention powers of the Irish Police, An Garda Siochana . He retired from criminal practice in 2006.
He wrote, jointly with Professor Terence Walters, A Guide to the Police & Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (Financial Training, 1985), and was joint editor, with Phil Huxley, of the first nine editions of Blackstone’s Statutes on Evidence (Oxford University Press). His book, In Search of the Truth (2017), about British injustice and collusion in Northern Ireland during The Troubles was published by Collins Press of Cork, Republic of Ireland.
The author of the Foreword
Campbell Malone was admitted as a solicitor in 1969 and initially worked as a legal aid practitioner in the North West of England, principally in his own small practices. In 1999 he was invited to join the leading firm of Stephensons, where he remained as a partner until 2010, and then consultant until his retirement in 2013. During his time at Stephensons, two separate partner-led departments were established, one specialising in Criminal Appeals, the other in Human Rights. Working mainly as a criminal defence lawyer, one of his notable early cases was that of the Shrewsbury Pickets (building workers Des Warren and now actor Ricky Tomlinson) in 1973/74. After the successful appeal of Stefan Kiszko (who he represented) appeals and applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission played an increasing part of his work, with well over a dozen serious cases being referred back to the Court of Appeal. These included two successful appeals against murder convictions involving a confession. He was the solicitor in three out of the four conjoined appeals in R v Harris ([2005] EWCA Crim 1980) the leading case on Shaken Baby Syndrome. In 2002, Campbell Malone helped establish the Criminal Appeal Lawyers Association which he chaired from its inception until his retirement. He was also a founder member of the Inside Justice panel. He now ‘delights in being a fond grandfather … and a struggling artist!’
Dedication
This book is dedicated with love to my wife Eileen, and to my two sisters Mary and Patricia, my brother Charles and to the memory of my parents James and Mary O’Connell, to whom I owe so much.
Foreword
Campbell Malone
The story of the appalling and savage murder of the young Lesley Molseed and the subsequent arrest, trial and conviction for murder of Stefan Kiszko is both tragic and compelling. It is the perfect illustration of how a serious miscarriage of justice can arise and the devastation that can be caused, not just to the wrongly accused and his family but to the victim and the family of the victim.
As Michael O’Connell, the author of this powerful and comprehensive analysis of the case, points out I would have been ready to welcome another look at this case because I promised Charlotte Kiszko in the final months of her life (and shortly after the premature death of her son, Stefan) that I would do whatever was in my power to keep alive the memory of her son and what the deficiencies of our legal system did to him. I have been happy to assist Michael wherever I could in the way of access to papers and to my recollections as to what happened in the progress to a successful appeal but I must emphasise that this is very much Michael’s book to which he brings not only obvious diligence and time-consuming research but his own passion, perception and trenchant critique.
So I have an obvious interest in the story having been approached by Charlotte to assist her son in attempting to overturn his conviction and been lucky enough to have assisted in clearing his name but why should the modern reader be concerned with the story of a murder and a wrongful convict