Author Topic: Gordon Park and the murder of his wife Carol in 1976.  (Read 17702 times)

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Offline Nicholas

Re: Gordon Park and the murder of his wife Carol in 1976.
« Reply #30 on: November 05, 2019, 03:22:53 PM »

CCRC
@ccrcupdate
The Court of Appeal is due tomorrow to begin hearing the appeal in the
@ccrcupdate referral case of Gordon Park for the so-called Lady in the Lake Murder. The original basis for the
@ccrcupdate referral can be seen in our October 2018 statement here: http://ccrc.gov.uk/commission-refers-the-murder-conviction-of-gordon-park/

https://mobile.twitter.com/ccrcupdate/status/1191412196523331584


Danny Shaw
@DannyShawBBC
I’m at Court of Appeal where three judges are hearing a posthumous challenge brought on behalf of Gordon Park, the so-called #ladyinthelake murderer

Henry Blaxland QC for Park’s family says there are 2 grounds of Appeal:  1: non disclosure at trial of evidence of credibility of prisoner, Michael Wainwright, who said Park confessed & evidence which undermined a prosecution expert #ladyinthelake

And 2: new forensic evidence about alleged murder weapon, a climbing axe, from two forensic dentists.  A third ground of Appeal, concerning DNA evidence from area of rope used to bind the victim, Carol Park, has been abandoned. #ladyinthelake

Blaxland tells the court: “However one looks at it, the material which is now available should lead this court to come to the conclusion that the conviction is now unsafe.”  #ladyinthelake

Background to the case: Carol Park went missing in 1976. Her remains were found 21 years later in Coniston Water. Gordon Park was convicted in 2005 & killed himself in prison in 2010. The  case was referred to Court of Appeal by Criminal Cases Review Commission #ladyinthelake

Blaxland has completed submissions, in under 2 hours.  Now onto Richard Whitham QC, for the Crown.  He begins by setting out the circumstantial evidence against Gordon Park, saying there were “over 20 circumstantial points...there was a strong circumstantial case” #ladyinthelake

Whitham points out potentially the “most powerful” new evidence in favour of Park, relating to DNA on knots of rope used to bind Carol Park’s body, has fallen away. #ladyinthelake

Whitham says information that key prosecution witness, a prisoner who provided cell confession evidence, was a heroin user involved in drugs trafficking would not have had a “significant impact” on the case because his character was explored in detail at the trial #ladyinthelake

After some further comments from Blaxland the three judges have retired briefly.. #ladyinthelake

The appeal has finished. Judgment has been reserved. #ladyinthelake
3:06 PM · Nov 5, 2019·Twitter for iPhone

https://mobile.twitter.com/DannyShawBBC/status/1191733478158741511
Who wants to take on this great massive lie?” Writer Martin Preib on the tsunami of innocence fraud sweeping our nation

Offline Nicholas

Re: Gordon Park and the murder of his wife Carol in 1976.
« Reply #31 on: November 05, 2019, 03:27:20 PM »
Excerpts from an article by Jon Robins for the justice gap headed: “Government assurances sought over claims of political interference at miscarriage of justice watchdog” 4th September 2019
“Henry Blaxland QC said that there was ‘a very good case’ for substituting the predictive test with the Scottish CCRC’s test which allows its commission to refer where they conclude that ‘a miscarriage of justice may have occurred’. However, he added that there was ‘an inescapable logic’ about the ‘real possibility’ test because the Court of Appeal was ‘ultimately going to be the body which has to determine whether or not the conviction is safe’. The QC went on to call the relationship between the Court of Appeal and the commission ‘quite poisonous in the last five years or so’.

“As the session drew to a close, Henry Blaxland QC asked if he could add one more parting shot. He said: ‘Eddie Gilfoyle. That’s all I need to say. The failure to refer Eddie Gilfoyle’s case is astounding.’
https://www.thejusticegap.com/oliver-campbell/


Son's bid to clear dead dad of 'Lady in the Lake murder' heard at Court of Appeal 5th Nov 2019
Excerpt:
”CCRC lawyers told the court on Tuesday that failures by prosecution lawyers to share evidence with the defence at Park's 2005 trial casts doubt on the safety of his conviction.

Henry Blaxland QC said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) did not disclose evidence about a key witness who claimed the teacher confessed to his wife's murder in prison, which would have undermined his credibility.

He said the CPS also failed to share the opinion of an expert who believed it was unlikely Mrs Park's injuries were caused by her husband's climbing axe - which prosecutors at trial suggested was the murder weapon.

Mr Blaxland said there is also fresh evidence from dental experts that the axe was not used in Mrs Park's murder.

He said: "May I make it plain that it is our submission that, however one looks at it, the material that is now available should lead this court to come to the conclusion that this conviction is not safe.

This is a case, a circumstantial case, where it is very difficult to tell exactly what it was that influenced the jury in their decision."

Lawyers will also present new scientific evidence which they say shows Park was not a contributor to DNA found on knots of rope used to bind Mrs Park's body, and argue that expert evidence which ruled out a link between a rock used to weigh the body and rocks at the family home has "renewed relevance".

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sons-bid-clear-dead-dad-20815337

« Last Edit: November 05, 2019, 03:31:39 PM by Nicholas »
Who wants to take on this great massive lie?” Writer Martin Preib on the tsunami of innocence fraud sweeping our nation

Offline Myster

It's one of them cases, in'it... one of them f*ckin' cases.

Offline Myster

Re: Gordon Park and the murder of his wife Carol in 1976.
« Reply #33 on: November 06, 2019, 05:42:18 PM »
Wow!  Two hours and thirty minutes of streamed Court of Appeal submissions, if you've got the time and patience...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQpjPoU1pH8
It's one of them cases, in'it... one of them f*ckin' cases.

Offline mrswah

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Re: Gordon Park and the murder of his wife Carol in 1976.
« Reply #34 on: November 07, 2019, 11:20:19 AM »
Wow!  Two hours and thirty minutes of streamed Court of Appeal submissions, if you've got the time and patience...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQpjPoU1pH8


Well, I watched some of it!!

Thanks for the links, Myster and Nicholas.

Will be interesting to see what happens-------------

Offline Myster

Re: Gordon Park and the murder of his wife Carol in 1976.
« Reply #35 on: December 06, 2019, 05:46:49 PM »
It's been a month to the day since the Hearing and still no decision!  Are the learned judges still up on Lake Coniston scuba-diving for some blue stones from Bluestones?

They only had three grounds to consider, the fourth regarding presence or absence of Gordon Park's DNA on the rope used to bind his wife's body having fallen away and abandoned, as the barristers put it.

What puzzles me is how all this 1970s clothing and footwear allegedly belonging to Carol Park managed to stay submerged for twenty-one years and didn't float away to be discovered on the lake shore around the time she disappeared.  There was no mention of them being packaged and trussed up like Carol's body, just the odd item weighed down by a stone / slate thought to have originated from a garden wall at Bluestones.

From the Hearing, an inventory of items found near the body's location, dated from the early to mid 1970s by clothing / costume expert Pauline Rushton:

1 blouse
3 pairs of knickers
1 pair of home-made trousers
1 acrylic tank top
1 bikini top
1 mini dress
1 skirt
1 bra
1 brown leather glove
11 items of footwear
1 pendant necklace
1 long necklace
6 other necklaces
1 bangle
1 pair of beads
Other jewellery
Cosmetics

And yet we are led to believe that Carol left behind her purse (presumably with any money, credit card? or debit card? that it contained), her handbag, wedding ring and engagement ring.
« Last Edit: December 06, 2019, 05:48:54 PM by Myster »
It's one of them cases, in'it... one of them f*ckin' cases.

Offline steve_trousers

Re: Gordon Park and the murder of his wife Carol in 1976.
« Reply #36 on: January 28, 2020, 10:50:49 PM »
Back in the day I very much hoped parky was a miscarriage of justice, but the facts were presented to the jury that the rocks the body was anchored with were the same as the ones found on their family home - and weren't particularly common.
I hope i'm wrong it but I don't think his conviction was unsafe.   

Offline Nicholas

Re: Gordon Park and the murder of his wife Carol in 1976.
« Reply #37 on: April 30, 2020, 05:34:36 PM »
CCRC
@ccrcupdate
The Court of Appeal's judgment in @ccrcupdate murder case of Gordon Park is expected to be handed down tomorrow, 1st May, at 9.45 in court 5 of the Old Bailey. The hearing was in November 2019. Here is
@ccrcupdate referral press release from October 2018. http://ccrc.gov.uk/commission-refers-the-murder-conviction-of-gordon-park/

https://mobile.twitter.com/ccrcupdate/status/1255870210948685831
Who wants to take on this great massive lie?” Writer Martin Preib on the tsunami of innocence fraud sweeping our nation

Offline Myster

Re: Gordon Park and the murder of his wife Carol in 1976.
« Reply #38 on: April 30, 2020, 05:45:13 PM »
CCRC
@ccrcupdate
The Court of Appeal's judgment in @ccrcupdate murder case of Gordon Park is expected to be handed down tomorrow, 1st May, at 9.45 in court 5 of the Old Bailey. The hearing was in November 2019. Here is
@ccrcupdate referral press release from October 2018. http://ccrc.gov.uk/commission-refers-the-murder-conviction-of-gordon-park/

https://mobile.twitter.com/ccrcupdate/status/1255870210948685831
Hopefully it should be broadcast live, as was the original hearing...

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF3HqeLrCkZgARQfyqj1m-g/videos
It's one of them cases, in'it... one of them f*ckin' cases.

Offline Nicholas

Re: Gordon Park and the murder of his wife Carol in 1976.
« Reply #39 on: April 30, 2020, 05:50:41 PM »
Who wants to take on this great massive lie?” Writer Martin Preib on the tsunami of innocence fraud sweeping our nation

Offline Nicholas

Re: Gordon Park and the murder of his wife Carol in 1976.
« Reply #40 on: May 01, 2020, 07:18:27 AM »
Ruling due in posthumous 'Lady in the Lake' murder conviction appeal

“The Court of Appeal will give its ruling on a posthumous challenge against a school teacher's conviction for the so-called "lady in the lake" murder of his wife.

Gordon Park was found guilty of murdering his wife Carol, whose body was found in Coniston Water in the Lake District 21 years after her disappearance in 1976.

Park, who always maintained his innocence, hanged himself in his prison cell on his 66th birthday in January 2010 while serving a life sentence.

A posthumous appeal brought on his behalf by his son, Jeremy Park, was referred to the court by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) which investigates possible miscarriages of justice.

CCRC lawyers told a hearing in November last year that failures by prosecution lawyers to share evidence with the defence at Park's 2005 trial casts doubt on the safety of his conviction.

Dame Victoria Sharp, Mr Justice Sweeney and Mrs Justice May will deliver their ruling at 9.45am on Friday.

At the November hearing, Henry Blaxland QC, for the CCRC, said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) did not disclose evidence about a key witness who claimed the teacher confessed to his wife's murder in prison, which would have undermined his credibility.

He said the CPS also failed to share the opinion of an expert who believed it was unlikely Mrs Park's injuries were caused by her husband's climbing axe, which prosecutors at trial suggested was the murder weapon.

Mr Blaxland said there is also fresh evidence from dental experts that the axe was not used in Mrs Park's murder.

The barrister also said the latest information lends new relevance to expert geological evidence given at an earlier appeal, which discredited a link between a rock found near the body and Bluestones, the family home.

CPS lawyers argued there was "compelling" evidence against Park and his conviction is therefore safe

Mrs Park, also a teacher, went missing in Leece, near Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, in July 1976 and Park claimed she had gone to live with another man.

But the mother-of-three's body was found by amateur divers in Coniston Water in 1997.

Park was arrested and charged with her murder, and spent two weeks in prison on remand, but the case against him was dropped in 1998 on the grounds there was not enough evidence available to prosecute.

Detectives later uncovered fresh forensic and geological evidence said to link him to the murder and he was found guilty at Manchester Crown Court in 2005, bringing to an end one of Britain's most notorious unsolved murder investigations.

A challenge by Park against his conviction was rejected by the Court of Appeal in 2008.

Following his death at HMP Garth in Lancashire, his family continued to campaign for his conviction to be overturned and applied to the CCRC.
https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2020-05-01/ruling-due-in-posthumous-lady-in-the-lake-murder-conviction-appeal/
Who wants to take on this great massive lie?” Writer Martin Preib on the tsunami of innocence fraud sweeping our nation

Offline Nicholas

Who wants to take on this great massive lie?” Writer Martin Preib on the tsunami of innocence fraud sweeping our nation

Offline Myster

It's one of them cases, in'it... one of them f*ckin' cases.

Offline Nicholas

Re: Gordon Park and the murder of his wife Carol in 1976.
« Reply #43 on: May 01, 2020, 11:01:20 AM »
Yup... https://twitter.com/DannyShawBBC/status/1256150506218631170

Wonder if the 81 page judgement will be published online?

The appeal judges said there was a “mass of circumstantial evidence” against Park, as well as alleged confessions. Its judgment runs to 81 pages and will almost certainly be the last word on this case.

 *&^^&
Who wants to take on this great massive lie?” Writer Martin Preib on the tsunami of innocence fraud sweeping our nation

Offline Nicholas

Who wants to take on this great massive lie?” Writer Martin Preib on the tsunami of innocence fraud sweeping our nation