Paul Malone - An Innocent Man?

Paul Malone has spent more than 15 years and spent more than £20,000 on trying to prove his innocence on charges of armed robbery in Heswall, Ellesmere Port and elsewhere.  He was jailed after allegedly "confessing" to robbery.  Mr Malone, who was from Liverpool, had a national TV documentary on his case shown, which did the reputation of the Ellesmere Port CID no favours.  He had the papers on which his "confession" was written, subjected to the ESDA test, a forensic examination that brings up impressions on the sheet underneath the one being written on.  Incriminating remarks were missing, showing that the papers were separate and the incriminating words had been added later.  This test brought down that bastion of truth and honesty, The West Midlands Serious Crime Squad.  An enquiry was launched but the outcome I cannot remember. 

    One robbery he was alleged to have committed was a jewellers shop in the affluent village of Heswall on a saturday afternoon.   Malone had gone to the races at Haydock Park and met a journalist friend there.  But in true bulldog fashion the E.P. CID broke his alibi by test driving from Heswall to Haydock Park.  Malone met his friend at 2.15pm and the robbery occured at 1.30pm, but they proved it could be done in just under 40 minutes without exceeding the speed limit(70mph).  Well eat your heart out Sherlock, step aside Poirot, go back to detective school Columbo, the EP CID shows the way.  Heswall has just two lanes running through it and it is a busy road, particularly on saturdays, Malone allegedly changed his robbery gear to a full suit and tie job.  He then drove to Haydock, parked up with absolutely no difficulty, because people do not go to the races in their cars, and you do not have to wait in a queue with hundreds of other drivers, placed a bet with a bookie, and walked to the cabin where his friend was, who noted his arrival.  All in 45 minutes!  Lads I worked with who went to Haydock races and lived in the Wirral area where the robbery occured, howled with laughter at the cracking of the alibi.  "It can take you half an hour just to park up" one laughed.

    He fought for years to clear his name and he proved that his confession was concocted by the Police, but it was rejected by the Court of Appeal.  Years later, he faced robbery charges again, but claimed a highly convoluted frame up by the E.P. CID.  I thought that it was too clever for the Port CID, but Malone was cleared.  The cops in the earlier case, were supposed to taking legal action over the ESDA test, but strangely dropped it.  This forensic test has been an accepted test that is used all over the world, and does expose wrong doings but apparently is wrong when it involves cops.  There was a six part documentary about history of the Police and the final episode dealt with corruption.  A delightful former detective explained how you framed a man for armed robbery.  "You take his shoes and stamp them in any glass from the crime scene, and if his trousers have turn-ups, you put glass fragments in the turn-ups".  Guess what the scientific proof was they had against Malone?  That made me think that he just may have been innocent, and I read that he has stopped his long campaign due to the costs he has encurred. 

    Is he innocent?  legally, in the first case, no, but the second, yes.  He certainly could not have done the Heswall robbery in the time scale. Make a lightning fast getaway through the usually heavy and slow moving traffic, remember to the hit the country lanes you need to take you to the M53 Motorway, stop somewhere and fully change without being seen, use the M53, M56 and then the M6 to Haydock.  Line up with hundreds of other cars to get a parking space, walk through the crowds, place a bet, walk to the cabin where he is noted as arriving at 2.15pm.  Unless he is really Clark Kent in disguise.