“Don Hale, the local newspaper journalist who was awarded an OBE for helping to overturn the murder conviction of Stephen Downing, has for the first time admitted that he made mistakes during his eight-year investigation of the case.
Mr Hale, who only eight months ago completely rejected police criticisms that he had embellished evidence during his campaign to free Mr Downing, has now admitted that with hindsight he would have done things differently.
In an interview last week with The Telegraph, the former newspaper editor also tried to distance himself from Mr Downing, whose conviction for murdering Wendy Sewell in a Bakewell graveyard was quashed by the Court of Appeal on a technicality last year. After 27 years in prison he was released - because he had not been properly cautioned before making his confession.
Although he had previously insisted that Mr Downing was of impeccable character, Mr Hale agreed that revelations that the man he sought to free has an alleged history of harassing women had made things difficult for him.
Allegations by a number of women that Mr Downing had stalked or attacked them and had also made obscene telephone calls from prison were disclosed in The Telegraph; our reports were subsequently confirmed in an exhaustive police reinvestigation of Mrs Sewell's murder by Derbyshire police.
During the course of the reinvestigation, detectives established that Mr Hale had ignored many of his own notes, instead distorting information in an apparent attempt to blame others for Mrs Sewell's murder.
After consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, however, Derbyshire Police have decided that "there are no grounds on which to base any further investigation nor indeed a prosecution for any offence"
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1441408/Campaigner-for-Stephen-Downing-admits-to-errors.html
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Don Hale is undoubtedly best known for his involvement in the cases of wrongly convicted murderers Stephen Downing and Barry George who were both released after the tireless work of Don and others in over-turning a gross miscarriage of justice.
http://www.donhale.co.uk/What’s the betting Stephen Downing was also under MAPPA, (or what ever it was called back then) upon his release from prison.
Barry George and Stephen Downing - two men with a history of violence against women both of whom had their murder convictions overturned on technicalities.
Don Hale OBE Retweeted
Brian P Willmot
@BrianWillmot
·
Mar 7
Replying to
@perryscope21
@MarkWatts_1
You have first hand knowledge of how the Police operate, given your eventful experiences over the years. God moves in mysterious ways & your success in getting innocent people released from prison is a testament to your integrity. Thanks & good will are extended ✝️
Don Hale OBE
@perryscope21
·
Apr 8
Great job of reporting the facts Mark.
https://mobile.twitter.com/perryscope21?lang=en More on Mark Watts can be found here:
https://trollexposure.wordpress.com/?s=Mark+watts+
Excerpts from Barrister Blogger blog:
“
As for corroboration of the allegations: there is none so far as we can tell, apart from the existence of multiple complaints, the vast majority of which even the institutionally credulous Wiltshire Police accept do not give rise even to “reasonable suspicion.” In the frantic leaking and spinning in the weeks leading up to the report it was reported that Police considered these complainants “independent” of one another. For some reason “sources close to Mike Veale” appear to have leaked a lot to Mark Watts, former boss of Exaro News, the defunct and unlamented organisation that gambled and lost all respectability through its reporting of Operation Midland.http://barristerblogger.com/2017/10/09/operation-conifer-report-sir-edward-heath-empty-exercise-self-justification/“Sir Richard’s report – at least the published parts of it – says comparatively little about the involvement of the media. Throughout the the whole Operation Midland saga the online scandal-site Exaro News continued to report Nick’s claims in ever more salacious detail, although carefully editing out the most absurd-sounding parts. Far from disinterestedly reporting news, Exaro’s editor in chief Mark Watts openly attacked Harvey Proctor for his “shameful” and “over the top theatrics” when he held a news conference to protest his innocence of multiple rape and murder. Apparently this “distressed” Nick.
It is unclear what Mr Watts would consider an appropriate response to being falsely accused of multiple sadistic murders, or why the victim of such an accusation should be expected to keep quiet so as not to distress his tormentor
At least Hogan-Howe has apologised for his force’s behaviour. Mr Watts has not, although thankfully the horrible company for which he worked collapsed like a cold soufflé once Operation Midland was wound up.
http://barristerblogger.com/2016/11/10/henriques-report-deputy-heads-must-roll/And Don Hale here:
https://trollexposure.wordpress.com/?s=Mark+watts+