The Scapegoat: One Murder. Two Victims. 27 Years Lost.

The Scapegoat: One Murder. Two Victims. 27 Years Lost.
Don Hale

A gripping true crime investigation into the longest miscarriage of justice in British legal history.In September 1973, Stephen Downing was convicted and indefinitely sentenced for the murder of Wendy Sewell, a young legal secretary in the town of Bakewell in the Peak District. Wendy was attacked in broad daylight in Bakewell Cemetery. Stephen Downing, the 17-year-old groundskeeper with learning difficulties and a reading age of 11, was the primary suspect. He was immediately arrested, questioned for nine hours, without a solicitor present, and forced into signing a confession full of words he did not understand.21 years later, local newspaper editor Don Hale was thrust into the case. Determined to take it to appeal, as he investigated the details, he found himself inextricably linked to the narrative. He faced obstacles at every turn, and suffered police harassment and several attempts on his life. All of this merely strengthened his resolve: why should anyone threaten him if Downing had committed the crime?In 2002, Stephen Downing was finally acquitted, having served 27 years in prison.Immerse yourself in this masterful account of Hale’s long, dedicated and often dangerous campaign to rescue a long-forgotten victim of the British legal system; the longest miscarriage of justice in British history.

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Copyright (#u418f5944-f430-567e-babc-43a84bb7562b)

HarperElement

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First published as Town Without Pity by Century,

an imprint of Random House 2002

This revised and updated edition published by HarperElement 2019

FIRST EDITION

© Don Hale 2019

Cover design by Ellie Game © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019

Cover photograph supplied by the author

While every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright material reproduced herein and secure permissions, the publishers would like to apologise for any omissions and will be pleased to incorporate missing acknowledgements in any future edition of this book.

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

Don Hale asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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Source ISBN: 9780008331627

Ebook Edition © June 2019 ISBN: 9780008331634

Version: 2019-05-22

Dedication (#u418f5944-f430-567e-babc-43a84bb7562b)

Contents

1  Cover (#u8c77cfd9-1423-58f7-b726-bbfe3fcb4cfb)

2  Title Page

3  Copyright

4  Dedication

5  Contents (#u418f5944-f430-567e-babc-43a84bb7562b)

6  Cast of Characters

7  Map of Bakewell Cemetery

8  INTRODUCTION

9  1 ‘STEPHEN WHO?’

10  2 THE DOWNINGS

11  3 WHAT RAY SAW

12  4 THE CONFESSION

13  5 THE WITNESSES

14  6 STEPHEN’S VERSION

15  7 BELIEVING THE BEEBES

16  8 THE RUNNING MAN

17  9 PERSONS OF INTEREST: MR ORANGE, MR OULSNAM AND MR RED

18  10 WHO WAS WENDY SEWELL?

19  11 ANATOMY OF A FALSE CONFESSION

20  12 ON THE TRAIL OF MR ORANGE

21  13 WALKING WITH WITNESSES

22  14 THE BOMBSHELL

23  15 THE SMOKING GUN