31/07/95 - Judgment day
The Guardian

THEY are bright and breezy, and wary. They were once unremarkable south London youngsters Today, they will learn if they have won an unprecedented High Court action, forcing a reluctant Attorney General into action against the British press. They are the Taylor sisters, and they are rather suspicious of newspapers As well they might be.

Michelle Taylor, now 25, and younger sister Lisa, 22, were jailed for life at the Old Bailey in July 1992 for the murder the previous August of bank clerk Alison Shaughnessy, 21. It was a grisly affair the victim was stabbed 54 times in the flat she shared with her husband, John, in Battersea.

Michelle Taylor had had an on-off affair with John Shaughnessy, a colleague at the Churchill Clinic in south London, and as her diary indicated, she was no great fan of the woman he married. The convictions were quashed and they were freed 11 months later.

Lord Justice McGowan, at the Court of Appeal, cited "sensational and inaccurate" coverage of the sisters' trial as sufficient to prejudice the jury. He referred the matter to the Attorney General for possible action against several newspapers for possible action. He declined, and refused to give his reasons for doing so.

Although Geoffrey Robertson QC, the sisters' counsel, criticised other papers, the Sun carried probably the most controversial report of all, based around video footage from the Shaughnessy wedding in Ireland in 1990. It was not before the jury.

The newspaper's front page still photograph , taken from the video, showed Michelle Taylor kissing the groom full on the lips But the video showed it was the quickest of pecks on the cheek The report was headlined' "Cheats' Kiss". Another Sun report, also leading the front page, used a wedding photograph.

It was headlined ''The 'Killer' Mistress Who Was At Lover's Wedding". An arrow pointed from the word 'Killer' to Michelle Taylor, almost hidden at the back. There were always doubts about the prosecution case. Despite the bloody manner of the victim's death there was no forensic evidence against them.

A work colleague of Michelle Taylor had given police an alibi for the sisters, repeating it on several occasions. But she withdrew it when police threatened to charge her with conspiracy to murder. There was doubt about the time of death, anyway.

There was evidence to suggest it was after 6pm, which, even without the work colleague's testimony, would have ruled the sisters out. There was another reason the appeal court quashed the convictions: police had kept important evidence from the defence.

One witness, who put two women apparently matching the sisters' description at the Battersea flat around the time of the killing, had, it transpired, originally described one of them as black. The sisters, who were not particularly close before their time behind bars say they would like to take civil action against Scotland Yard.

But they have no money to do so. The challenge to the Attorney General is being mounted with legal aid. There is further evidence, never heard before any court, which supports the sisters. Dr Albert Hunt, a retired Home Office pathologist, concluded Mrs Shaughnessy's killer was probably a man, and certainly around 5ft 10.

The Taylor sisters are around the 5ft 2 mark. Lisa Taylor says: "At the time, it was the silly season. There wasn't much else happening, and here was a sensational story, with sex and violence involved. The newspapers just seemed to try and outdo each other.

They were in competition." While her sister was held on remand pending trial, Lisa Taylor was on bail. "I wasn't really aware of what was happening in the press at the time. I only saw a few newspapers. I never really realised how bad they were until after our appeal was successful. They seemed to be writing about different people. It was like another planet."

Michelle Taylor had only seen the occasional television report of court proceedings. After their release, they visited their solicitor's office. "We sat down just after coming out and looked through the papers. I was really upset, and burst into tears. I just couldn't believe they had written what they had.

It didn't seem as though it had anything to do with me. Some of it was sensational: but much of it had nothing to do with what had happened in court. "Taking this on, and returning to the High Court, was the hardest decision. We made it together. It is of no benefit to us, but it is important that we do this to prevent something similar happening to anyone else.

We couldn't sit by and do nothing when we had the chance to change things." The sisters say they have found life difficult since they came out. Michelle Taylor says: "There is not a day goes by when I don't think about being inside. It's not the conditions in prison or anything like that which worried me.

The worse thing was being inside and knowing I was innocent. It will always be the same: two years, five years or 10 years down the line."