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Murder conviction quashed after 26 years

Jason Bennetto,Crime Correspondent
Thursday 27 June 2002 00:00 BST

A man who has spent 26 years in prison for murder had his conviction quashed yesterday after the Court of Appeal was told he had a mental disorder and that he should never have stood trial.

Frank Johnson, 66, has always maintained he did not kill Jack Sheridan, a shopkeeper, by setting him on fire in east London in February 1975.

Three Court of Appeal judges ruled that Mr Johnson should be released immediately from Swaleside prison on the Isle of Sheppey. The court said the medical evidence made it impossible to be sure the conviction was safe.

Mr Johnson could have been freed on parole years ago if he had confessed but he refused to be released until his conviction was overturned. He is likely to be awarded hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation for spending more than a third of his life behind bars.

As well as the medical evidence, Mr Johnson's legal team had a statement from Mr Sheridan shortly before he died dismissing suggestions that Mr Johnson was involved in the attack. He described Mr Johnson as "a grand lad".

Police originally denied the statement existed and said Mr Sheridan had been too unwell to answer questions. Mr Sheridan, 60, died three weeks after being attacked at his shop in Whitechapel. Mr Johnson, who was a friend and employee, was watching television in the back of the shop at the time. He said he raced to help Mr Sheridan, threw water over him to douse the flames, then called the police and an ambulance.

He was arrested 10 months later on the evidence of two co-defendants, Jack Tierney and David Smart, who claimed he was the leader of their gang. Mr Johnson, who dismissed his defence team at his trial in 1976 and represented himself, was convicted of murder. Tierney and Smart have long since been released, but Mr Johnson turned down the chance of parole by insisting he was innocent.

During the appeal, Edward Fitzgerald QC said that, at the time of his trial, Mr Johnson had developed a paranoid psychosis. "The appellant was unable to participate effectively in his trial by reason of his mental state," he said. Mr Fitzgerald said the conviction could not be upheld because "a trial should never have taken place".

The case was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which considers possible miscarriages of justice. Victor Temple QC, for the Crown, said the case against Mr Johnson had been a strong one, and an acquittal would have been "wholly and totally perverse".

But Lord Justice Longmore, sitting with two other judges, said: "We have come to the conclusion that in the light of the medical history of this case, the medical evidence, it is impossible for us to say that Mr Johnson's conviction is a safe conviction. It will therefore be quashed."

Mr Johnson waived his right to attend yesterday's hearing. Paddy Hill and Billy Power – two of the six men who spent 16 years in jail after being wrongly convicted of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings – were in court for the ruling. Mr Power said he would collect Mr Johnson from prison and was providing him with a place to stay.

Gareth Peirce, solicitor for Mr Johnson, said: "He doesn't have any immediately close family because such a long period of imprisonment has caused distance. We have repeated our concern that people literally come out and on to the pavement. In Mr Johnson's case it will be in the middle of the Isle of Sheppey to nothing."

Speaking outside Swaleside prison in Kent immediately after his release, Mr Johnson said: "I'm so glad to be out after 27 years in jail.

"I do not feel like saying anything much at the moment."

When asked what he would do first after being released, Mr Johnson said: "I will be having a drink with my friend Billy Power."

He met Mr Power, one of the Birmingham Six, while they were in prison together at Wormwood Scrubs in 1976.

Mr Johnson said freedom was "terrific". He said: "The feeling is unbelievable, you can't put it into words really.

"It's very fresh out here, I have always wanted to come out in the summer. I have always hated the winter – so this is it." Mr Johnson was accompanied as he left the prison on Sheppey by Mr Power and another man, who drove the three men away.

Mr Power said a press conference was due to be held today and added that the plan yesterday night was for his friend to enjoy a plate of steak and chips – and freedom.

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