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- Transcript of London Tonight
LONDON TONIGHT
COMMENTATOR
The freedom of the press is a cherished British institutuion,
but so is the right to a fair trial. Tonight we ask if the
power of the tabloid press can sway a jury. Last year Michelle
and Lisa TAYLOR were convicted of murder and jailed for
life. The jury decided they killed the wife of Michelle's
lover in Battersea. Today the TAYLOR family were at a meeting
of the Presswatch Group, trying to draw attention to the
misuse of press power. They claimed it was press coverage
of Michelle and Lisa's trial that turned the jury against
them. In tonight's Special Report, Christopher PEACOCK asks
were the TAYLORS convicted by the jury or convicted by the
press?
COMMENTATOR
It was all in a kiss when Michelle was a guest at her former
boyfriend's wedding to Alison SHAUGHNESSY. The tabloid press
described it as a lover's kiss, but video of the ceremony
clearly shows it to have been a peck on the cheek, just
one of many press inaccuracies according to Michelle's parents
that led a jury to convict two of their daughters for murder.
ANN TAYLOR
We believe that the jury could have been swayed by the press
yes, and the coverage. We had members of the jury walking
in with tabloid papers under their arms.
COMMENTATOR
The case was unusually savage, inspiring columns of lurid
headlines, but the family claims only the prosecutions case
was fully reported. The TAYLOR sisters' defence was ignored
by the tabloids.
ANN TAYLOR
Really it's abuse, I mean the girls were abused by the press.
COMMENTATOR
Michelle TAYLOR and her sister Lisa were sentenced to life
imprisonment for the murder of Alison SHAUGHNESSY. She'd
been stabbed 54 times. Jealousy, the jury decided was the
motive. Michelle had been John SHAUGHNESSY's mistress before
he married Alison. The judge told them it was a terrible
crime, the killing of a young wife who had everything to
live for.
CHRIS PEACOCK (COMMENTATOR)
In a few days time the TAYLOR girls will come to the High
Court to appeal against their convictions. They will allege
there has been a miscarriage of justice. They will further
claim that the jury were swayed in coming to their verdict
by inaccurate press reporting.
COMMENTATOR
Their parents were at the House of Commons this afternoon
for the launch of Presswatch, a new support group for victims
of press abuse.
CLIVE SOLEY MP PRESSWATCH
Here we have a family who thought that the press coverage
was at least going to be redressed when it came to hearing
their side, and of course it wasn't, and what they objected
to was the inaccuracies and in fact the vilification which
they saw as prejudicing their trial.
COMMENTATOR
The TAYLORS claim the papers reported the trial out of context,
putting headlines into quotes as if they'd been said in
court.
ANN TAYLOR
They had found them guilty on the second day, I mean we
always understood the law in the country was that you were
innocent until proven guilty and unfortunately it worked
the other way around.
HELEN PEGGS VICTIM SUPPORT
Well the problem is people believe what they read in their
newspapers, and when what they read is biased, unfair, misleading,
inaccurate, that is the story they believe.
COMMENTATOR
Free the TAYLOR two is the hope of the family. Her daughter
Tracey was given a poem written by her sisters when she
saw them in prison.
TRACEY
We had done nothing yet it was us that they blamed, My legs
went weak and I thought I would fall, All I heard was a
voice saying stand tall, stand tall, Guilty he said, I thought
I misheard, 'Till the day that I die I'll remember that
word.
COMMENTATOR
Chris, you told us that the TAYLOR's appeal is coming up
in the next few days, are their claims of press interference
the only grounds for the appeal?
CHRIS PEACOCK
No Alastair, the TAYLORS are also alleging that the evidence
against their two daughters is purely circumstancial. They
say there is no direct proof to link either of the two girls
to this murder. They further allege that it would have been
impossible, and totally out of character for either of their
two daughters to have stabbed another woman 54 times. Tomorrow
on London Tonight we'll unravel the other side of the story,
the story that the jury didn't hear. |
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