Alan Newton claims to be a victim of a miscarriage of justice. Vanessa Podkin works at the Innocence Project in New York; she agreed to defend him. The Innocence Network, 2023
June 23rd 1984: ‘A woman in the Bronx was sexually assaulted; in the middle of the night she had gone to the neighbourhood store … A man grabbed her, pulled her into a car, took her to two different locations where he raped her, and it was a very brutal crime; he also cut her eye and blinded her in one eye during the attack.’ ibid. Vanessa
‘His photograph was kept by the police … Any encounter with the police no matter how small then puts you at great risk for a wrongful conviction.’
‘None of us knew how to drive at the time.’ ibid. friend
The charges were based solely on two eyewitness accounts – the victim and the employee of the store in front of which the victim was abducted. ibid.
‘Even at the time there was reason to question those identifications.’ ibid. Vanessa
Despite the prosecution’s weak case, on May 31st 1985 Alan was sentenced to 40 years in prison. ibid.
DNA testing: ‘They’re saying that the evidence doesn’t exist’ … The tests on the clothes led nowhere … Monday November 7th found the kit! – that is amazing!’ ibid.
June 14th 2006: the DNA tests finally arrived: ‘Alan Newton is excluded as a contributor to the mixture of DNA …’ ibid.
‘Dear Jim, I have always wanted to see Rolf Harris doing one of his paintings. Please could you fix it for me …’ Rolf Harris: Hiding in Plain Sight, Jim’ll Fix It, ITV 2023
For more than 50 years Rolf Harris was a national treasure adored by millions. But throughout his career he sexually assaulted women and girls without the public ever suspecting. ibid. captions
‘He knew he could get away with it. He knew he could do whatever he wanted. He was given the green light to have fun with me.’ ibid. victim
Rolf Harris Sex Abuse Arrest. ibid. The Sun front page
In the late sixties BBC unveils a new star for its Saturday night schedule. During the 1970s Harris becomes a household name, winning fans from all generations. ibid.
Harris settles in London in 1952 and marries art student Alwen Hughes six years later. Their daughter Bindi is born in 1964. Harris returns to Australia to promote his anti child abuse film ‘Kids Can Say No’. ibid.
Within a year [of the Bafta] his reputation would be ruined forever. Rolf Harris: Hiding in Plain Sight II, caption
She had to go up against extremely powerful opposition. And truth won out. ibid. critic
In November 2012 Operation Yewtree questions Harris. He’s interviewed twice during the investigation. ibid. caption
He came across as massively arrogant. ibid. rozzer
Rolf Harris could only be prosecuted for alleged assaults in the UK. Six other women gave supporting evidence of assaults abroad. ibid.
In May 2017, after serving three years, Rolf Harris is released from prison. ibid.
Twenty thousand letters a week. Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story, Jimmy re Jim’ll Fix It, Netflix 2022
For over 50 years a nation watched him. But no-one saw the truth. ibid. caption
A man of the people: terrible terrible things happened because of that. ibid. critic
He wasn’t emotional about anything. ibid. BBC employee
One of Jimmy Savile’s bases is his local hospital, Leeds General Infirmary. ibid. caption
It’s made me realise there are two people in there. ibid. old boy
The people who work for me call me the Godfather. ibid. Jimmy
I am not constrained pretty much by anything. ibid.
When Jimmy Savile’s crimes were eventually uncovered they shocked the nation. Between 1955 and 2009 he committed hundreds of sexual offences, mainly against children. Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story II, captions
I didn’t realise the whole world had to change before the truth could come out. ibid. victim
They are actually triumphant with getting away with it. ibid. specialist
They live almost a parallel life. They try to fuck with your head as well. ibid.
We can stay with people for free – that’s crazy. Bad Host: Hunting the Couchsurfing Predator, victim, Sky Documentaries 2023
How dare he think he can get away with this. ibid.
I immediately got a response from this man Leonardo … He seemed very pleasant. ibid.
We’re in Rome. I have no memory the airport, I don’t remember the plane ride, any of those things. I knew I only had one glass of wine. Honestly, I thought it was my fault. ibid.
Interviewer: Have you ever been convicted of a crime?
Jeffrey Epstein: Yes. Two counts: one, associating with prostitution, and procuring a minor for prostitution … I’ll invoke my fifth attention rights. Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich s1e1: Hunting Grounds, deposition, Netflix 2020
New York City: Gatsby-like figure … He claimed to be the money manager for the uber-rich … he hung out with a lot of famous people: Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, a lot of famous academics: the lawyer Alan Dershowitz, and then he was surrounded by very beautiful often very young women. ibid. Vicky Ward, investigative journalist
Ghislaine Maxwell: His then supposed girlfriend. She was Oxford-educated, very witty, very funny, she was a great connector for Jeffrey. ibid.
You’re so lucky you get to do this – this massage. ibid. victim
‘He likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.’ ibid. Trump
Before Epstein … I was something else. ibid. victim
Most of the victims did not want to prosecute for fear of Jeffrey Epstein … We decided to talk to some of his employees. ibid. rozzer
Ghislaine Maxwell denies all allegations against her. ibid. caption
Seven month into the case, detectives executed a search warrant at Mr Epstein’s residence. Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich: Follow the Money s1e2
To his ornate and bizarre world: pictures of young kids half naked, nudes everywhere. One of the police officers that saw it said was just really weird. Detectives also discovered a very bizarre steam room, a massage room set up. They actually found some computers and equipment remaining in the house but police suspected most of Epstein’s computers’ hard-drive and surveillance videos had been taken out of the house. ibid. rozzer
How could Epstein get a teaching job at Dalton without a college degree? ibid.
We had about 40 some victims who were in their teens or in their early teens in some cases … This will be an easy case. ibid.
We found private investigators going through the trash at the police station … We were never really able to convince the prosecutors. ibid.
In July of 2006, Epstein is charged with a single felony count of solicitation of prostitution. He is arrested and posted bond a few hours earlier. ibid. caption
The FBI takes over the case in July of 2006. ibid.
Separate from the criminal investigation, several victims file civil suits seeking monetary compensation from Epstein. ibid.
A molestation pyramid scheme. We had to prove that this pyramid of underage girls in Palm Beach was true. It didn’t start from just a random underage girl walking into the house. ibid. victims’ lawyer
A spider web five times as big as this chart. ibid.
She’s an extrovert … Her father Robert Maxwell had been an incredibly big figure in England. He was a big newspaper publisher. In fact he’s been something of a fraudster con man but he’d lived a huge life. ibid. Vicky Ward