| The Dream Solution
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- Transcript of Channel 4 News
CHANNEL FOUR NEWS
COMMENTATOR
Campaigners working on behalf of two sisters jailed for
murder say they've uncovered vital new evidence which will
prove the girls' innocence. The Court of Appeal will review
the case of Michelle and Lisa TAYLOR later this week. They
were convicted of murdering Alison SHAUGHNESSY, the wife
of Michelle's former lover. Lawyers acting for the sisters
say that since last years trial new evidence has emerged
suggesting Alison was killed by a man. Our Home Affairs
reporter Rory MacLEAN has been looking at the case.
RORY MacLEAN
This car was driven to a killing, according to the case
against the TAYLOR sisters. It was, the prosecution maintains,
used by Michelle and Lisa TAYLOR to take them to Vardens
Road in South West London where they had planned to stab
Alison SHAUGHNESSY to death, at the house where she and
her husband had a flat. But it's during their alleged getaway
that the first crack begins to appear in the case against
them. For the sisters to have carried out the killing and
got back to work police say the pair must have completed
a rush hour journey of around four miles in eleven minutes.
Their father Del TAYLOR who is fighting for their release
has recreated this journey a number of times.
DEL TAYLOR
Eleven minutes for this journey is a crucial time because
anything over would put the girls in the clear. I've done
it several times and I've never done it less than 15.46
I think is the shortest time I've done it.
COMMENTATOR
This particular drive between the murder scene and the hospital
where Michelle worked, took nearly seventeen minutes.
COMMENTATOR
Channel Four News has now completed three journeys between
Vardens Road and the Churchill Hospital here behind me.
The longest time was seventeen minutes. The shortest, outside
rush-hour fourteen minutes and that's not the only problem
with the prosecution's case according to the sisters' defence.
COMMENTATOR
The murder victim, Alison SHAUGHNESSY, left the bank where
she worked in The Strand in Central London at two minutes
past five on Monday the 3rd of June 1991. Her journey home
would have taken at least 35 minutes. The TAYLOR sisters
say it was impossible for them to have lain in wait, stabbbed
their victim 54 times and for Michelle to have been seen
at the Churchill Hospital at six, and some pathologists
say the murder does not point to a female killer.
DR PETER VANEZIS PATHOLOGIST
As far as the numeracy of the stab wounds it's much more
likely that a man is going to produce numerous stab wounds,
and if we're talking about 54 stab wounds, it would seem
to me very unlikely that a woman would produce that many
stab wounds, going from the scientific evidence that we
have.
COMMENTATOR
And it was at this police station, now closed, that new
evidence of a possible male attacker came from a 'phone
call.
'PHONE RINGING
Police Officer
Hello, Operation Myataurus.
COMMENTATOR
Officers working in a homeless persons unit in Bow Stret
Police Station received information about a suspect two
days after Alison SHAUGHNESSY was killed.
MICHAEL HOLMES (SOLICITOR)
The caller was telling the police bluntly that he had been
speaking to a man who had just admitted to him that he'd
murdered a girl in Battersea with a knife.
COMMENTATOR
Yet the police didn't follow this up?
MICHAEL HOLMES
It is not my task to be critical of the police, they must
act on the information which they have, are given by members
of the public. But I will say that, my chief comment that
I would want to make about this, is that the police did
some following up, but by the time they did this man had
disappeared.
COMMENTATOR
On Thursday the Court of Appeal will re-examine the TAYLOR
sisters' conviction for murder. The case was referred back,
not because of the claimed holes in the prosecutions case,
or because of the discovery of a man who had allegedly admitted
a killing in the right place at the right time, but for
the way the trial was covered in the media. The court case
made banner headlines because Michaell TAYLOR and Alison
SHAUGHNESSY's husband John were lovers both before and after
his wedding. The release of the SHAUGHNESSY wedding video
containing both victim and alleged murderer, was manna from
heaven for picture editors. It was not used as evidence
in court, but stills and sequences from it where Michelle
TAYLOR kissed John SHAUGHNESSY during the wedding line-up
were published. But a re-run of the complete sequence shows
the kiss to be no more than the occasion required. The defence
will also claim at the Appeal Court that media coverage
concentrated unfairly on the prosecution case.
ANN TAYLOR
Sex and scandal sells newspapers, at the end of the day
I believe the girls were convicted on their morals, especially
when we had members of the jury walking in with newspapers
under their arms. They must have read these articles on
their way up to the Court, so how, you know, they must have
been influenced by it.
COMMENTATOR
But as Ann TAYLOR launched a campaign for her daughters'
freedom, she did realise some of the case against them looked
damning, particularly after one witness retracted an alibi
for the pair and when one of Lisa's fingerprints was found
at the SHAUGHNESSY's flat. There was also Michelle's diary,
detailing her affair with John SHAUGHNESSY and her dislike
of his wife.
ANN TAYLOR
They portrayed in the papers the bits which were damning,
"I wish Alison would disappear, the unwashed bitch",
but yes, some of the newspapers did put the rest in but
it was actually under headlines that were really bad and
they were so far down on the paper that people probably
wouldn't read them. I mean Michelle wrote that piece "I
wish Alison would disappear..." I think it was on October
the 31st, well Alison's 21st birthday was November the 7th
and Michelle made her 21st cake for her.
COMMENTATOR
Those campaigning for the TAYLOR sisters know that getting
to the Court of Appeal is only the first step. They still
have to persuade the judges to accept the new evidence of
a male suspect and the nature of the attack on Alison SHAUGHNESSY,
an attack the TAYLORS' Solicitor believes is reflected in
a series of similar crimes.
MICHAEL HOLMES
There are, as you know a number now, unfortunately, of multiple
stabbings of women in the London area, which is a very disturbing
fact, and if my clients are not guilty, and they say they
are not guilty, then this could be another one.
COMMENTATOR
As Ann and Del TAYLOR visit their daughters in prison before
the appeal hearing, they hope that next time there is a
family gathering, Lisa and Michelle will no longer be behind
bars.
COMMENTATOR
....will repeal against their convictions tomorrow. claiming
that splash coverage of their case in newspapers prejudiced
their trial. Michelle and Lisa TAYLOR were convicted of
the murder of Alison SHAUGHNESSY. The TAYLOR family claims
some of the reporting was inaccurate and sensational, featuring
the affair between Michelle and Alison's husband. They also
point to a lack of hard evidence against the sisters. Amanda
HARPER has been looking at the background to the case.
COMMENTATOR
This is a case that depends on weighing the individual pieces
of evidence and fitting them together like a jigsaw.
COMMENTATOR
The Judge's summing up in the trial of sisters Michelle
and Lisa TAYLOR ended a gripping and highly publicised three
week hearing. In just a few months the police had found
and prosecuted the killers of 21 year old bank clerk, Alison
SHAUGHNESSY. The sisters were sentenced to life.
DS CHRIS BURKE (MET POLICE - July 1992)
This was a young girl in the prime of her life, and these
two wicked girls have come along and they have coolly, calculatedly
and wickedly taken that away.
COMMENTATOR
The Prosecution claim the TAYLOR sisters murdered Alison
SHAUGHNESSY at her home in Vardens Road, Battersea two years
ago, stabbing her 54 times. The motive sexual jealousy.
Michelle, then 21, had been having an affair with Alison's
husband John. Both worked at the Churchill Clinic in Lambeth.
Tomorrow's appeal with ask serious questions about coverage
of the trial. The TAYLOR's lawyers claim inaccurate and
sensational reporting prejudiced a fair trial, newspapers
headlines were followed by excerpts from Michelle's diary
in which she wrote "I hate Alison, the unwashed bitch"
and "My dream solution would be for Alison to disappear
as if she never existed".
ANN TAYLOR
But it wasn't a motive for murder. If they had of gone through
all of Michelle's diaries, I mean that was written on the
31st of October. Alison's 21st was on the 7th of November.
Michelle made her 21st birthday cake.
COMMENTATOR
Some newspapers also published stills from the SHAUGHNESSY's
wedding video which was never given in evidence while the
trial was in progress.
MICHAEL HOLMES
Elements in this case of murder, sex and jealous mistress,
which of course is the way the Prosecution presented their
case, were bound to be lapped up.
COMMENTATOR
Three days after the SHAUGHNESSY murder a social worker
told police that a vagrant had confessed to killing a woman
in the area. The man was said to carry a knife and was living
rough in The Strand and Battersea, where he drank in local
pubs. He has since disappeared. The TAYLORS say the police
didn't act soon enough.
ANN TAYLOR
From what we understand they turned up from between two
days and a week later after it had been reported. I mean
the social workers reported this on the 5th of June.
COMMENTATOR
On the day of the murder the sisters said that after a shopping
trip in Bromley they'd returned to the Churchill Clinic
at 5.15 to watch television with a friend, JJ TAPP. She
confirmed this three times, but on the fourth occasion she
withdrew the alibi. Other witnesses though at the Clinic
remember seeing Michelle arranging flowers at about 6 o
clock. But it's claimed the sisters killed Alison between
5.40 and 6 o clock, driving from Vardens Road to the Churchill
Clinic through rush-hour traffic. Police recorded that journey
time as eleven minutes. When we did the journey it took
fifteen and a half minutes, and on the day of the murder
there were road works. Also, a neighbour of the SHAUGHNESSY's
remembers seeing Alison returning home just after 6 o clock.
CHRISTINA WRIGHT (NEIGHBOUR)
I was watching television, and I know, every night that
is when she's, between six, half past six.
COMMENTATOR
From day one the sisters have maintained their innocence,
their family has campaigned tirelessly for their release.
In Bullwood Hall Prison in Essex they paint and write poetry,
waiting for a chance to clear their names.
ANN TAYLOR
After the conviction Lisa wanted the Scales of Justice taken
down, and she said the system in this country stinks. If
the girls come home they don't say they're innocent, they
will say that it was unsafe and unsatisfactory. That doesn't
say anybody's innocent. So we'll carry on fighting, it's
not gonna go away and it won't stop.
COMMENTATOR
The TAYLOR sisters have spent the day in Court appealing
against life sentences for murder. Michelle and Lisa were
found guilty of murdering Michelle's love rival Alison SHAUGHNESSY.
Today the Court of Appeal was told police concealed vital
evidence at the trial. The sisters also claim newspaper
coverage prejudiced their case. Christopher PEACOCK reports.
CHRIS PEACOCK
The TAYLOR family leaving home in Forest Hill at the start
of what they hope will be the end of a year long agony.
Mother Ann TAYLOR has always refused to believe her two
daughters are guilty of murder. Michelle and Lisa have been
behind bars at Bullwood jail in Southend for twelve months.
They're serving life sentences. Today the sisters came to
the High Court where their barristers are trying to convince
three Appeal Court judges that the jury got the verdict
wrong. It was the day their parents had hoped and prayed
for. The appeal had become a crusade.
ANN TAYLOR
We' re just hoping that things will be put right this time.
CHRIS PEACOCK
Three High Court judges were told that the case against
the TAYLOR sisters was unsafe and unsound. Richard FERGUSON
QC Defence Counsel said the Crown had committed a fundamental
error in not passing on evidence that was vital to the defence
case.
COMMENTATOR
The TAYLOR family heard the police had been obsessed with
the conviction that they had got the right girls for murder.
The jury had found the sisters guilty of killing Alison
SHAUGHNESSY. She'd been stabbed 54 times. Jealousy was said
to be the motive. Michelle had been the lover of John SHAUGHNESSY.
She'd been a guest at John's wedding to Alison, but today
Defence Counsel said police had concealed vital evidence
at the trial. A crucial witness, Doctor UNSWORTH-WHITE told
of seeing two girls running away from the murder house in
Battersea, but earlier he told a woman Detective Constable
one of the girls was black. That evidence never came to
light.
COMMENTATOR
At the trial it was stated that Doctor UNSWORTH-WHITE's
girlfriend had tried to find out about a possible reward.
What the Defence Counsel didn't know, but the police did,
was that UNSWORTH-WHITE himself had written a letter to
Barclays Bank, claiming the reward.
COMMENTATOR
Imagine if all that had been put to him at the trial said
Lord Justice MacOWEN. Would there have been anything left
of him? Defence Counsel said press reporting of the trial
could have deeply prejudiced the jury. It was sensational
inaccurate and misleading. Michelle TAYLOR had been called
a killer in headlines days before the jury convicted her.
Still-frames had been taken from the wedding video suggesting
a peck on the cheek was a full kiss on the mouth. The appeal
will continue tomorrow. The TAYLOR family said this eveningthey
are quietly confident their daughters will walk free. At
the High Court this is....
COMMENTATOR
....withheld from their trial. Michelle and Lisa TAYLOR
were convicted last July of murdering Alison SHAUGHNESSY.
The Appeal Court heard that a key witness in the case had
given different versions of what he'd seen, but the jury
only heard one of them. Amanda HARPER reports.
AMANDA HARPER
The TAYLOR family and supporters arrived at the Appeal Court
to hear new evidence about irregularities in their daughters'
trial. Michelle and Lisa TAYLOR who arrived minutes later
in a prison van were sentenced to life last year for the
murder of Alison SHAUGHNESSY at her home in Vardens Road,
Battersea, but today the TAYLOR'S lawyers claim the police
failed to discose information that would have helped the
sisters' case. Witness Doctor Michael UNSWORTH-WHITE had
told the trial last July he'd seen two girls similar to
the sisters leaving Vardens Road on the day of the murder.
Yet during an earlier police interview during August 1991,
he said one of the girls might have been black, but the
TAYLOR'S lawyers hadn't been told. Mr. Richard FERGUSON
QC for Michelle TAYLOR said there'd been material irregularities
in the trial. He said that police had been obsessed that
they'd got the right girls and had deliberately withheld
information from the defence, in particular about a crucial
witness, Doctor UNSWORTH-WHITE
COMMENTATOR
The appeal was granted on the grounds that alleged inaccurate
and sensational reporting prejudiced the sisters' trial,
in particular the report about Michelle TAYLOR's affair
with Alison SHAUGHNESSY's husband John. The court was told
that publication of stills from the SHAUGHNESSY's wedding
video painted a misleading picture. The coverage, said Mr.
FERGUSON was intolerable and abysmal.
AMANDA HARPER
Mr. FERGUSON said reports of the trial were emotive and
misleading. He said the jury might find it difficult to
descriminate between what they read in the newspapers and
what they heard in the trial. He said their minds were effectively
contaminated.
COMMENTATOR
The case is likely to raise serious questions about how
far the media can go in reporting trials, and how much a
jury is influenced by that... |
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