Innocent man freed after 25 years in jail

A MAN who has served 25 years behind bars protesting he was the victim of police corruption could be in line for a compensation payment running into millions after the Court of Appeal yesterday overturned his murder conviction.

Robert Brown, now 45, from Glasgow, who was jailed for life in 1977 for the murder of 51-year-old Manchester spinster Annie Walsh, was dramatically freed by three judges in London who ruled that the guilty verdict against him "cannot be regarded as safe".

Lord Justice Rose, Mr Justice Gibbs and Mr Justice Davis heard that unknown to the jury or the trial judge, one of the police officers central to the case, Detective Chief Inspector Jack Butler, was "deeply corrupt".

Brown, who would have been eligible for parole 10 years ago but for his insistence that he was not the person who had brutally bludgeoned Miss Walsh to death, emerged jubilant from the cells at the Royal Courts of Justice to be hugged and applauded by well-wishers.

He said: "Today was a victory. My conviction was an indictment against the whole criminal justice system.

"I wholeheartedly blame the police it's they who should be held responsible. The criminal justice system buried this for 25 years. They knew it existed. They kept me in custody to ensure that the criminal justice system was in working order."

Brown, who always insisted police bullied him into signing a false confession, said he would never have given up the bid to clear his name.

"I would have fought this for the next 25 years if I'd had to. It's nothing to do with freedom, it's to do with justice, liberty and truth."

Brown paid tribute to his 75-year-old mother Margaret's "loving strength". "I have just spoken to her. She's overwhelmed by emotion but she's happy and looking forward to us spending some time together.

"They could have let me out on bail in July but they didn't show me any compassion, any humanity even during my mother's illness and that absolutely disgusted me."

He said he would have to sit down with his lawyers before deciding whether to pursue compensation.

"Money will not compensate me for the loss of my life. It will not compensate my mother and it will not compensate the victim or the victim's family. They have been forgotten in all this, they have not received justice."

Brown's solicitor Robert Lizar said he could be entitled to "very substantial" compensation, but stressed that the case was not about money, but about "regaining his good name".