Taxi driver ‘was told by detectives to keep quiet about murder

A taxi driver who detectives thought knew something about murder victim Lynette White was told to “keep his mouth shut,”.

Jack Ellis had been named in statements the prosecution now argue to be false to have been outside 7 James Street, Cardiff, in the early hours of February 14, 1988, when Miss White was stabbed to death.

Also outside, it was alleged at the time, were members of the Cardiff Five, who would later go on to be charged with her murder. Three would be wrongly convicted and jailed for life, only to be released in 1992 when the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions.

The prosecution allege that some officers who investigated the murder conspired to “frame” the Cardiff Five, and that at one stage believed that Mr Ellis had drove them to or from 7 James Street.

Mr Ellis, who had known Miss White, has told Swansea crown court how he was put under pressure to admit he was there and to name the people in his car.

But, he stuck to his true account and refused to give in. He said he could remember the fares he had carried that night and he had not been in James Street.

Today, a statment by his then wife Diane was read to the jury by Nick Dean QC, leader of the prosecution.

She said she remembered answering a knock on the door of the couple’s home in Caerphilly.

A man she described as being “5ft 10in tall” “mixed race” “hard looking face,” asked her if her husband was at home. She responded saying “no”.

He said: “It’s about Cardiff.”‘

At this point she became worried and went to close the door, she told the court.

“The man put his foot into the doorway. I tried to close it but he pushed it open and it hit my face.

“He then said, ‘tell him to keep his mouth shut.’”

The then Mrs Ellis, who has since re-married, said she suffered a cut to the bridge of her nose and bruising to her forehead and left eye.

In a later statement, she said the man had used the words, “If he knows what is good for him he has seen nothing.”

The prosecution say that Mr Ellis’ refusal to change his story led to police “air brushing” out his taxi and getting witnesses to change their description of the vehicle to that of a “dark coloured Cortina”, similar to one owned by Ronnie Actie, who would later become one of the ‘Cardiff Five’.

It is alleged that the attempt to “brow beat” Mr Ellis was an example of how officers tried to manipulate witnesses into providing evidence that would support their theory about who murdered Miss White.

But, 15 years later, DNA evidence lead officers in an entirely different direction. Jeffrey Gafoor admitted that he, and he alone had murdered Miss White.

He said he had never heard of the Cardiff Five until reading about their arrests in December, 1988. He is now serving a life sentence for the murder.

Eight former police officers are being accused of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Then Detective Inspector Graham Mouncher and two people who gave evidence are also being charged with perjury.

They have all pleaded not guilty and the trial will continue.