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Last month Mark Grommek, 50, made legal history.

He was the first person to be found guilty of perjury in a miscarriage of justice case where both the prosecution and defence agreed that his accusations of police malpractice were true.

Almost twenty years ago The Voice was the first newspaper to report on the wrongful convictions of Yusef Abdullahi, Stephen Miller and Tony Paris – the Cardiff Three.

They had been found guilty of the horrific murder of Lynette White, 20, that occurred in a run down flat in Butetown, Cardiff in the early hours of Valentine's Day 1988.

The longest murder trial in British history resulted in the wrongful convictions of the Cardiff Three in November 1990. The cousins John and Ronnie Actie were acquitted.

All five were innocent. Five years ago history was made in Cardiff Crown Court when Jeffrey Gafoor, now 43, pleaded guilty to the murder of Lynette White. It was the first time in Britain that a miscarriage of justice had been resolved in with the conviction of the real murderer.

Gafoor admitted that he had acted alone and that he did not know the original defendants. The former Chief Constable of South Wales Constabulary apologised in writing to them. Ms White's family have yet to receive an apology. An investigation – phase three of the Lynette White Inquiry began. Its remit was to establish if criminal offences had been committed during the original inquiry. To date thirty-four people have been interviewed under caution on suspicion of offences including perjury and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Fifteen people remain on bail until next year. They are are twelve retired, or serving police officers who are suspended, an expert and two civilian witnesses.

In February 2007 the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided that four alleged eyewitnesses should stand trial for perjury at the committal hearing in February 1989 and at both trials – the second trial became necessary due to the death of Mr Justice McNeill in February 1990. Paul Atkins was subsequently found unfit to plead and unfit to stand trial. The three remaining defendants, Learnne Vilday, 40, Angela Psaila, 43, and Mr Grommek admitted that he had lied, but insisted that they had acted under duress.

Nicholas Dean QC, prosecuting, accepted that they had been treated badly by the police. Ms Vilday and Ms Psaila pleaded guilty to perjuring themselves at the second trial – the one that resulted in the wrongful convictions of the Cardiff Three. Mr Grommek pleaded not guilty. He accepted that he had lied, but claimed that he had acted under duress. The jury heard from only one witness – Stephen Miller. “They stripped me bare,” he said describing his ordeal. Mr Miller was treated sympathetically by both Mr Dean and David Aubrey and was thanked for his trouble by Mr Justice Maddison. It was vastly different from his experiences almost twenty years ago. The court heard extracts from his interviews of December 1988. Those interviews were conducted by Detective Constables John Seaford, Peter Greenwood, John Murray, Simon Evans and Graham Toogood. Mr Miller told the jury that even the 'nicer' officers were not interested in hearing about his innocence. They heard extracts from those interviews, including tape seven that horrified the Court of Criminal Appeal in 1992. They also heard extracts from Mr Abdullahi's interviews. He was in court to hear them played and see Mr Grommek face trial.

The court heard Detective Inspector Graham Mouncher describe Mr Abdullahi as “a vicious, evil, wicked man...” Mr Abdullahi had been working on the MV Coral Sea in Barry Dock – nearly ten miles away – throughout the night of the murder. The court heard him refer to it directly or indirectly over a hundred times. They also heard Mr Miller deny being at the flat where Lynette was murdered or being involved in her murder more than a hundred times. In twenty tape-recorded interviews Mr Abdullahi mentioned the Coral Sea 545 times and Mr Miller denied being involved in the murder or being present at the crime scene 303 times. The jury heard Mr Mouncher call Yusef Abdullahi “a disgrace to the human race,” when Mr Abdullahi had the temerity to tell him that he was an innocent man whom they were persecuting.

This gave the jury a flavour of the way Mr Grommek had been treated, but this was an unusual prosecution in every way. The prosecution did not dispute that he had been treated badly – very badly – by police. They accepted that all of his allegations of police malpractice were true. His claims are shocking. Mr Grommek's claimed that Detective Inspector Richard Powell had thrown a chair during an interview and threatened him with a blanket job – putting a blanket over him and beating him up so marks would not show. He was also threatened with false imprisonment if he maintained his account that he had seen and heard nothing. “There was nothing I could do,” Mr Grommek told police investigating what had happened. “I still felt under incredible pressure. I knew I couldn't change statements.” Nevertheless, Mr Dean insisted that Mr Grommek had opportunities to tell the truth that he did not take. Ultimately that would cost Mr Grommek dear. “The real victims are Stephen Miller, John and Ronnie Actie, Yusef Abdullahi, Anthony Paris [the Cardiff Five] – and of course Lynette White, not Mark Grommek,” said Mr Dean.

Mr Grommek claimed that he had suffered harassment from the police and was told that if he didn't tell them what they wanted to hear he would be prosecuted. He claimed that the threats and intimidation overbore his will. “I really think I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown,” Mr Grommek told police investigating one of the worst miscarriages of justice in Welsh history. He claimed that he had acted under duress and that after he had given them what they wanted they were 'sweetness.' Mr Grommek accepted that he had been weak and put himself first, but claimed he had no choice, but to stick to the version that falsely implicated Yusef Abdullahi and Ronnie Actie. He claimed that DI Powell told him: “We'll be in shit and you'll be in bigger shit. We'll put you away.” Mr Grommek claimed that he was coached on what to say and was given copies of his statements and depositions to learn by Detective Constable Wayne Pugh, whom he regarded as friendly. He memorised the story well.

Mr Dean accepts that all this and more was true, but ultimately did not give Mr Grommek a defence. Mr Justice Maddison ruled that the law on duress was clear. The threat of false imprisonment did not amount to duress – the threat had to be death or serious injury and it had to believed that it would be executed immediately or imminently. The threats were made in November 1988. Mr Grommek gave evidence for the defence in February 1989 and as a prosecution witness in November 1989 and June 1990. The judge believed that he had ample opportunity to come clean if not to police, then to officers of the court. Mr Justice Maddison decided that duress could not be left to the jury. Mr Grommek had no defence and changed his plea to guilty on all three counts.

Mr Grommek will be sentenced before the new year, along with Ms Vilday and Ms Psaila, but what about the people responsible for mistreating them and overbearing their will? Nogah Ofer represents Yusef Abdullahi, Anthony Paris, John Actie and the family of the late Ronnie Actie. She issued a statement on their behalf. “As victims of the miscarriage of justice we are deeply frustrated by the slowness of the criminal investigation and we wish to see any officers responsible for our prosecution brought to justice.” Further trials have not been ruled out by the CPS, which is carefully considering the evidence.

None of the victims of this case receive any assistance in rebuilding their lives. Despite an official scheme to assist victims of miscarriages of justice they do no not qualify. It is a disgraceful way to treat victims of the criminal justice system who have been proved innocent and it is already too late for Ronnie Actie. He died in September 2007 aged just 49. It is unlikely that this case finished making history just yet.

Satish Sekar is the author of Fitted In: The Cardiff 3 and the Lynette White Inquiry – definitive account of this case. It can be ordered from the Fitted-In Project at www.fittedin.com

Published: 11 November 2008
Issue: 1346

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