by Sandra Piddock

Created on: November 22, 2011   Last Updated: November 23, 2011

At around 4.30pm on September 19, 1978, 13 year old Carl Bridgewater was nearing the end of his newspaper round. Yew Tree Farm, near Stourbridge, Staffordshire was the home of disabled cousins Mary Poole and Fred Jones. Carl was a helpful boy, and he was accustomed to let himself into the farmhouse and leave the evening paper on the kitchen table. On that fateful day, the owners of the farm were out. Carl disturbed burglars in the midst of a robbery and was mercilessly gunned down.

The Bridgewater murder shocked the nation, and the West Midlands Police Force came under serious pressure to apprehend Carl's killers. Several weeks later, following a similar armed burglary, the police arrested four men who would come to be known as the Bridgewater Four. Cousins Vincent and Michael Hickey, Patrick Molloy and James Robinson were small time crooks, and seemed to fit the profile of Carl's killers.

Under allegedly violent interrogation, Patrick Molloy confessed to Carl's killing and also implicated the other men. He was also shown an alleged confession from Vincent Hickey which later investigation proved to be forged. Molloy retracted his confession as soon as he was allowed to see a solicitor, but it would be intrinsic to their conviction.

The Hickeys and Robinson were found guilty of murder, and Molloy was convicted of manslaughter in November 1979. He claimed the others murdered Carl while he was raiding upstairs rooms, hence the manslaughter charge. Molloy died in prison in 1981, still protesting his innocence.

The judge directed the jury to disregard Molloy's conviction as evidence, and the foreman of the jury expressed doubts about the safety of the conviction. There was no other evidence, apart from Molloy's confession, to implicate the Bridgewater Four. A number of fingerprints were found on Carl's bike, but none of them matched up with any of the accused men.

Several appeals failed, but in February 1993, MP Chris Mullin - who had successfully campaigned for the release of the Birmingham Six - tabled an Early day motion in regard to the Bridgewater conviction. Mullin pointed out that the case rested on a confession obtained after 55 hours of questioning without access to a solicitor. One of the interviewing officers, DC John Perkins, was later reprimanded for fabricating evidence in at least one other investigation, while a prosecution witness was labelled a 'pathological liar' during an appeal in 1988.

The problem with the Bridgewater Four was that they were shifty characters whose evidence was not believed, because their way of life involved deception and robbery - sometimes armed robbery. It was assumed that the police had arrested the right men, when in fact the West Midlands Serious Crimes Squad was well known for falsifying confessions or extracting them under duress, as well as planting evidence. The squad - which was also responsible for the arrest and imprisonment of the Birmingham Six - was disbanded in 1989.

The surviving members of the Bridgewater Four were released in February 1997, after 18 years in prison. None of the police officers involved in the case stood trial for their part in the miscarriage of justice, and Carl Bridgewater's killer remains at large, although he is believed to be serving a life sentence for other crimes.

Perhaps the final word on the case should go to one of the falsely accused men. Speaking of the West Midlands Serious Crimes Squad, James Robinson said: "It was not a case of one rotten apple in the barrel, they were all rotten. You had to be rotten to get into the barrel. It wasn't about over-zealous policemen thinking they had the right guys, it was a concerted conspiracy."

Learn more about this author, Sandra Piddock.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.