A Merseyside man’s 20-year struggle against his conviction for murdering his wife has taken a dramatic turn following revelations that the police kept hidden her personal papers from at least 1994.
At trial Eddie Gilfoyle argued his wife Paula committed suicide. However evidence from friends and family about her contentment with life helped convince the Jury he had tricked his wife into leaving a suicide note before killing her.
In 1995 the dead woman’s state of mind was cited as grounds for rejecting the first of two appeals. Having maintained his innocence, Gilfoyle left prison in December 2010. Shortly before Merseyside Police handed, his legal team, Paula’s previously unseen personal effects revealing an earlier overdose of pills and letters from two ex-boyfriends threatening suicide. In one the language used resembles her final letter.
With Gilfoyle’s case before the Criminal Cases Review Commission the former Assistant Chief Constable for Merseyside Police, Alison Halford, has demanded an independent inquiry and the Home Secretary’s involvement into the latest events.
An online petition supporting Eddie Gilfoyle is at http://www.petitiononine.co.uk/petition/justice-for-eddie-gilfoyle/4104
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