Sunday, August 19, 2007

Newly Relevant

The case of Graeme Stafford, the man jailed for the murder of Queensland schoolgirl Leanne Holland, just gets worse:

POLICE working on the Leanne Holland murder case in 1991 ignored a vital lead: a blood-stained man acting strangely not far from where her body was dumped. The person who saw the man was never interviewed, and no attempt was made to find him. A note on the crime investigation log two days later said the information was "no longer relevant", as Graham Stafford had been arrested for the schoolgirl's murder.
What had actually happened was that the detectives had fallen into the most basic trap awaiting all investigators - they had let the presence of an 'obvious' suspect blind them to the possibility of others, causing them to make evidence fit their theory rather than testing their theory with the evidence.

Stafford was released from jail last year and is seeking a pardon.

-- Nick

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