On Thu, 22 Jan 2004, John Whittington wrote:
> absolutely nothing. Goodness, over the years I have 'been present at the
> time of death' of countless people, but have yet to be arrested on
> suspicion of murder!
Note how long Dr Shipman got away with it ...
And in his case there was strong statistical evidence - once the coroner
(or, I think, actually a fellow GP) started looking for a pattern.
> I've obviously missed some crucial information, since I find it almost
> beyond belief that (if one excludes the 'statistical evidence', which could
> seem dramatic and overwhelming to those who believed it) any sane human
> being, let alone experienced judiciary, could mention this case and
> 'overwhelming evidence' in the same breath!
It is depressing, in so many areas of public life and commercial decision
making, to notice how often the pre-judged conclusion determines what
evidence is considered reliable and relevant. I remember well reading at
the time of rail privatization that the division of responsibilities made
the system unworkable - with the specific example of a train crashing into
a station due to a rail failure (cf Hatfield). *With hindsight*, HMG now
agrees.
> ... As I said above, in the absence of direct evidence that
> a murder had been committed, it strikes me as nonsense for any court to
> conclude 'beyond reasonable doubt' that a particularly individual had
> committed that crime.
A view that many have held for some time - in my case since the day I
heard "1 in 73 million". The new whitewash is clearly to place the blame
entirely on the cocky and dogmatic "expert witnesses", who put forward
personal prejudice as informed evidence. What of all the judges and
lawyers who failed to put relevant questions, demand answers or point out
the dangers? Incidentally, John Bibby has suggested that the infamous
phrase was actually a variant on an earlier "lies, damned lies and expert
witnesses."
R. Allan Reese Email: [log in to unmask]
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