‘Butetown, Cardiff: Lynette White was always on the embankment whatever the weather, whatever time of year it was.’ The Bay: The Murder of Lynette White, reporter, Channel 5 2022
20-year-old Lynette White was found brutally stabbed to death on St Valentine’s Day. Her mutilated body was discovered at this flat in the docks area of Cardiff. ibid.
After leaving school, Lynette left home aged 18 to live in the Butetown area of Cardiff. ibid. caption
Lynette had been living with her boyfriend Stephen Miller. Stephen Miller moved to Cardiff from London. ibid.
Someone who was seen in the street or in the area with blood on his hands distressed in James Street. ibid. rozzer
Four witnesses place five local Butetown men at the murder scene on the night in question. ibid. caption
They needed one of the five to confess. ibid. dude
On October 17th 1989 the trial of the Cardiff 5 begins at Swansea Crown Court. ibid. caption
No identification, no forensics, no DNA, nothing. ibid. accused victim
In a major breakthrough, eminent human rights barrister Michael Mansfield QC agrees to take on the case. ibid. caption
December 1992: the case goes to the Court of Appeal. ibid.
The Lord Chief Justice stopped the appeal once he heard the tapes. That was it. ibid. Michael Mansfield
In a major breakthrough the police now have the DNA profile of the killer. ibid.
A murder where the traces of the killer went undiscovered for over a decade … One of Britain’s most controversial cases. Cold Case Forensics: Lynette White ***** ITV 2023
The investigation into Lynette White’s murder was to be tainted of accusations of racism and corruption. Witnesses were bullied by police and a false confession led to one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British legal history. A suspect in blood-stained clothes was seen near the flat was white; but all the men the police arrested were black. They were to become known by campaigners as the Cardiff 5. ibid.
[Television news]: Lynette White was 20 when police found her mutilated body in her flat in Cardiff’s docks area. She had been stabbed and slashed 50 times. Forensics: Catching the Killer s4e5: A Murder in Butetown, Sky Crime 2024
Police now did have an image of the suspect. ibid.
The key suspect was a white man with blood on his hands. Then all that changes. And suddenly the police announced they had arrested five black guys from Butetown. ibid. comment
Despite their protestations of innocence, the police were not really listening. ibid.
The judge has a heart attack and died. ibid.
The longest criminal trial in British legal history up to that point. ibid.
In December 1992, having spent 4 years in prison, the Cardiff 3 were finally acquitted. ibid.
1999: The case reopens … applying advances in new technology. ibid.
The forensic team and detectives now had a prime suspect in their sights. ibid.