 |
| Murder of Wendy Sewell | |
|---|---|
 Wendy Sewell | |
| Location | Bakewell, Derbyshire, England |
| Date | 12 September 1973 |
Attack type | Murder |
| Deaths | 1 |
| Victims | Wendy Sewell |
| Perpetrator | Unknown |
| Motive | Apparently sexual motivated |
| Convicted | Stephen Downing (overturned) |
The murder of Wendy Sewell was committed on 12 September 1973. Wendy Sewell, a 32-year-old legal secretary from Bakewell, Peak District in Derbyshire was found beaten, sexually assaulted and murdered. In 1974, 17-year-old Stephen Downing was convicted of the murder of Sewell. Following a campaign by a local newspaper led by Don Hale, in which Sewell was purported to be promiscuous, Downing's conviction was overturned in 2002. The case is thought to be the longest miscarriage of justice in British legal history, and attracted international media attention.[1][2][3]
Downing remains the prime and only suspect in the case, with police reinvestigations finding that all the alternative suspects suggested by Don Hale could be eliminated from inquiries. Downing, meanwhile, was the only suspect who could not be eliminated. He was also recorded confessing to the crime after he was released, although he refused to be re-interviewed by police. Don Hale's book was subsequently criticised for falsehoods and inaccuracies, and police considered bringing charges against him for its contents.
When the law of double jeopardy was changed in England and Wales in 2005, allowing individuals who had previously been acquitted of a crime to be re-tried in certain circumstances, Derbyshire Police applied to the Crown Prosecution Service to re-charge Downing. However, as of July 2022, Downing has not been retried.
- ^ Cohen, Nick (10 March 2003). "The editor, the murder and the truth". New Statesman. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
- ^ "Downing murder conviction quashed". BBC News. 15 January 2002. Archived from the original on 19 July 2004. Retrieved 23 July 2008.
- ^ Webster, Richard (28 January 2002). "The new injustices:from false confessions to false allegations". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 1 October 2002. Retrieved 11 March 2020 – via richardwebster.net.
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