Review questions exclusion of crucial evidence and the handling of witness

After the murder of Damilola Taylor and the controversial outcome of the subsequent trial, two reports were commissioned to discover what went wrong and what improvements were needed.

Yesterday, an independent panel of three experts, aided by 12 former and serving police officers from the Kent and Metropolitan Police forces, published findings into the investigation and prosecution.

A second report by the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) looked at the role of state prosecutors. The main findings were:

THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

The first report called for a better balance between the prosecution and the defence during trials, arguing that the system was biased in favour of the defendants.

It said juries should be allowed to hear more evidence and be allowed to make up their own minds on whether something was reliable.

It pointed out that significant evidence had been excluded during the trial, including alleged confessions made by suspects while in custody and other forensic evidence. Many of these issues are now being examined as part of a Criminal Justice Bill, expected to become law next year.

THE POLICE

The review acknowledged that the Metropolitan Police had made great improvements since the botched Stephen Lawrence police investigation in 1993, and praised the initial investigation.

But it also made a series of criticisms. These included the interviewing of an important female witness known as "Bromley". The 14-year-old, whose evidence was discredited after she lied in court, was considered a vulnerable witness, the report concluded. "In hindsight, Bromley should have been interviewed in better ways," it said.

"The absence of any process to test the veracity of Bromley's testimony before trial left the prosecution of the case vulnerable to problems."

The report also criticised the way police tried to gather "cell confessions" from the four defendants while they were on remand in young offenders' institutions. The police inquiry was criticised for being poorly resourced once the defendants were charged, resulting in several important leads being compromised.

CROWN PROSECUTION SERVICE

A separate review into the CPS's handling of the case, carried out by Sir David Calvert-Smith, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said the decision to continue with the trial of four teenagers charged with Damilola's murder was "the right thing to do".

He said there would have been "grounds for strong criticism" of the prosecution if it had failed to put what evidence there was before a judge and a jury.

In response to the criticism that the CPS should have established that the witness Bromley was not reliable, Sir David said that, under present rules, prosecutors were not allowed direct access to witnesses before a trial began.

After Sir David's findings were published, the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith QC, announced a consultation exercise to look at whether prosecutors should be allowed direct contact with witnesses in a limited number of cases.

But Courtenay Griffiths QC, who represented one of the defendants in the trial, dismissed the CPS internal report.

He said: "This has all the hallmarks of a self-serving statement that has the need to justify the charging of these four youngsters in the first place, and subsequently the need to justify embarking on a trial involving them."

He added that giving prosecutors direct access to witnesses could result in them being "coached".

THE PRISON SERVICE

Problems within the Prison Service in keeping track of the exact location and movement of prisoners within the custody system were identified.

Detectives were unable to show in evidence to the court that a confession made in custody could have occurred at a specific time and place, stated by the witness. This was because of the absence of prison records detailing custody and cell locations of detainees.

RECOMMENDATIONS

They include:

¿ A "radical reform" of the rules to allow juries to hear some evidence that is currently excluded.

¿ The defence, like the prosecution, should reveal its evidence to opposing barristers before the trial begins.

¿ The treatment and handling of vulnerable witnesses requires greater care.

¿ Advice files forwarded to the Crown Prosecution Service should include professional assessments of the reliability of the evidence to be given by a child or vulnerable witness.

¿ In every case where the media offers a cash reward for the culprits to be caught, detectives should be consulted to ensure that the evidence is not compromised.