A pity. Thought some old buddies were saying 'hi'.
He’s tweeted an article from 2003 regarding Ray Gilbert
https://mobile.twitter.com/michael47478285/status/1225017729511579648In October 2016 a news article reported on Ray Gilbert’s release from prison after 36 years.
Maybe he thinks it will give Bamber supporters ‘hope’ ?
Rather alarmingly the same article reported,
‘
There were fears that both men may come into contact with each other at a National Miscarriage of Justice Day meeting at John Moores University on Saturday.
The ECHO understands that Gilbert wanted to attend the meeting but has been advised not to by campaigners, who fear any flashpoints could potentially land him back in jail.
Mr Kamara, however, is attending the event. He told the ECHO: “I am coming up to talk to people and help other people on how to fight their case.”
One of the city’s most contentious murders, Gilbert, 56, penned a confession on paper during questioning and pleaded guilty in court - but has since protested his innocence over the 19-wound attack.https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/murderer-ray-gilbert-released-prison-11989227Copper who investigated controversial John Suffield bookies murder reveals behaviour of killer Raymond Gilbert“NEW details have emerged of the controversial conviction of a killer who knifed a Liverpool bookie to death.
“Now, the investigating police officer has come forward to the ECHO.
John Wright, from the then Serious Crime Squad’s explained how:
The suspect demonstrated how he repeatedly stabbed John by grabbing the interviewing police officer.
Gilbert, on the spur of the moment, penned a confession on paper during questioning.
His first account of the incident was so “detailed, plausible, and fitting the circumstances” that he had to be present at the murder.
Gilbert’s co-accused John Kamara was freed in 2000 after his conviction was ruled unsafe and quashed by the Court of Appeal.
His colleague remains in jail as, although he has served his minimum 15-year tariff, his refusal to admit the crime means he cannot be considered for release by The Parole Board.
Mr Wright, now retired, told the ECHO: “Originally, a bus passenger saw Gilbert going into the bookies and drew a picture of him and Kamara.
“Me and my colleague Ray Prentice (detective sergeant) showed it round the office and they immediately recognised them, as they were always round that area, and known criminals.
“When we went to arrest him (Gilbert) his girlfriend answered and straightaway said: ‘I know what it’s about, he was with me.’
“In interview, when we asked Gilbert, ‘how did you stab Suffield?’, he stood me up, put his hands round my neck and showed how he cut his mouth and face.
“You could tell he was there when it happened. It was very scary.”
During questioning, Mr Wright explained how Gilbert wrote a confession: “I couldn’t believe what he was saying. I was looking at Ray and thinking, ‘God....’ He didn’t want a solicitor, he was cock-a-hoop.
“Gilbert wrote it in his own handwriting. He wasn’t the brightest in the box, but he wasn’t thick. It was a horrible murder, one of the worst I’d worked on.”
Justice campaigner Bruce Kent, supporting Gilbert’s case, has dismissed a further letter written by the killer in which he apparently ‘confessed’.
That read: “I punched him twice in the face. I then produced a knife and said, ‘If I have to resort to use this to get the answer about where the bread is, I will, but I don’t want to.’
“We took him into the back room and pushed him on to a chair…I asked Suffield how to get open the other part of the safe. He was trying to mumble but I couldn’t hear what he was saying… I was angry and lost my temper…”
That statement was written after Gilbert’s conviction, in an apparent bid to clear his co-accused Kamara.
Mr Kent, speaking of the confession in police interview, said: “This was signed after two days and nights of frequent interrogation by police officers with no one else present – permissible in 1981 but not today.
“There was no other evidence whatsoever connecting Gilbert to the murder – weapon, bloodstains, fingerprints or witness identification.
In the middle of that interrogation he was told that his alibi (his girlfriend) had changed her story. She had, under police pressure.”
He added: “Any policeman is bound to defend his position to the hilt.
“The confession made with police made no reference to the inner safe which is crucial. I don’t think Raymond Gilbert is a saint, but he’s not a murderer.”
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/copper-who-investigated-controversial-john-3352034R. v. John Kamara [2000] EWCA Crim 37
http://netk.net.au/UK/Kamara.aspIn their ‘Cases and Reports’ section ‘Progressing Prisoners Maintaining Innocence’ alongside Mark Alexander here
http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?board=98.0 they’ve included,
Raymond Gilbert
‘Convicted of murder in Liverpool in December 1981, Ray was given a 15 year tariff but served 36 years in prison. He was finally released in 2017. He attributes the many years in prison after his tariff (minimum term) had ended to the fact that he maintained his innocence throughout. If he had pretended to be guilty he could have been released many years earlier.
http://www.prisonersmaintaininginnocence.org.uk/cases-and-reports/
