a good history with television, because I’ve done about 19 or 20 documentaries over the years, and I’m still a regular contributor to television and radio and to newspapers. So I hope the crossover won’t be too difficult. Cambria:
How long would you say that it took you, and to a degree I suppose it’s still taking you, to get over that horrendous experience of being locked up for something you didn’t do?
I don’t think you ever get over what has happened - the most important thing is you learn to live with it, because that’s all you can do. What’s gone is gone, what’s done is done, I cannot change it. I used to hanker to get the 11 years back. I jokingly said to somebody once, “I’m not 42 - I’m 31’, and they laughed because they knew exactly what I meant. And I do feel 31 not 42. But it’s not worth harping on about the past. There are only so many times you can go on about it, and you have to move forward as part of the healing process. But there are some long-lasting issues from my miscarriage of justice: I still suffer severely from post-traumatic stress disorder, I’m on a hell of a lot of medication to cope with that. I get good days and bad days still, but I am determined to rise above all that, cope with it and then do something more positive.
at home with me and I thought if I go out with somebody or find somebody nice they’re not just going to have to accept me, they’re going to have to accept both my son and me as a package. That’s why I thought of the Dating for Parents site. It works both ways. And so I met Claire. She stood out because she said she was a writer. She writes poetry, she sounded nice; we made contact and have been inseparable ever since. We’re getting married very shortly, to put icing on the cake. My family life is brilliant. I can’t fault it at all!
O’BRIEN:
Cambria:
In adopting that attitude you’re in a different position from a lot of other miscarriage of justice victims, aren’t you, because there are a lot of other people who have not coped as well as you have?
O’BRIEN:
I’m obviously saddened by anyone who has not managed to pull through it. I know the Cardiff Three1, some of them are in a terrible state still, Annette Hewins 2 is in a terrible state, as is one of the Darvell Brothers 3, and I just think ‘there but for the grace of God go I’. I’m very lucky - I’ve managed to distinguish the wood from the trees, but it took me nearly seven years after coming out of prison before I started, slowly, to recover. Where I live now was part of my new start; I moved away from my old friends - who for some reason or other didn’t support me when I was in prison. I lived a quiet life which gave me time to reflect and rebuild. Cambria:
You’re going to be a father again soon. You’re living together happily with your girlfriend. How long have you known her and has that affected your recovery?
O’BRIEN:
I think meeting Claire was one of the best things that happened to me. I met her in 2007 on an internet dating site called Dating for Parents. I had my son living
Cambria:
What advice would you give other people? There are a great number of people suffering miscarriages of justice - there are still a great number of innocent people in jail - and yet there doesn’t seem to be much hope for them. I guess it’s very easy for people to lose hope, when they can’t see a way forward.
O’BRIEN: There
are always good days and bad. I had days when I thought I was going to be in prison for the rest of my life. But then I used to get angry. I thought ‘no, I’m not just going to sit here and take this.’ And that’s why I did what I did, by studying law, looking at my case, looking at other people’s cases, so my message to anyone inside is to study law. Then you’ll understand what has gone wrong with your case, you’ll pull out points of law, and then you’ll pull out new grounds for appeal. And it’s quite surprising, once you get that new legal knowledge, how much you can uncover. Bear in mind I didn’t have a solicitor until 1996, and by that stage I’d been in nearly nine years, and yet I managed to get a number of television documentaries made and newspaper articles written about us which made our case high profile. And that’s what you’ve got to do, to get your case in the public eye, you’ve just got to be selfish and think only of one thing: getting out and clearing your name. That was the foremost thing on my mind and it should be the most important thing on the minds of those in similar situations.
1
THE CARDIFF THREE: Yusef Abdelahi, Tony Paris and Steven Miller - wrongly convicted of the 1988 murder of Lynette White. Convictions quashed on appeal following evidence of serious police irregularities.
2
ANNETTE HEWINS: Wrongly convicted of arson with intent to endanger life following the death of a young mother and her two children on the Gurnos estate in Merthyr Tydfil in 1997. Conviction quashed on appeal.
3
THE DARVELL BROTHERS: Wayne and Paul Darvell - wrongly convicted of the murder of Swansea sex shop worker Sandra Phillips in 1986. Convictions quashed on appeal following evidence of serious police irregularities.
The Death of Justice by Michael O’Brien. £9.95 from www.ylolfa.com
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