EXPERT CAMPAIGNS TO FREE MAN HIS EVIDENCE HELPED JAIL
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A senior psychologist, distinguished in the field of criminal profiling, is campaigning to free a Cheshire man, claiming that his expert evidence had a 'behind the scenes' influence on the Court convicting and jailing the man for life.
In July 1993, 45 year old Eddie Gilfoyle was found guilty of murdering his wife Paula, who was eight months pregnant.
In the run-up to the trial, Professor David Canter was asked by the Prosecution to study Mrs Gilfoyle's suicide note, which Merseyside Police believed her husband had dictated to her.
The expert witness concluded at the time that the note betrayed signs of being faked and that Mrs Gilfoyle, 32 at the time, did not mean to kill herself.
Now, he says that he "didn't have access to the resources or to the information to study the whole thing effectively".
Professor Canter, who was not called to give evidence, says that he believes that, although his testimony was not put before the jury, "it had an influence behind the scenes".
Detectives believed Mrs Gilfoyle, who had no signs of force on her body, was somehow persuaded to climb a ladder with a noose around her neck in the garage of the couple's home in Upton, Wirral.
Now, after submitting a report as part of Gilfoyle's second failed appeal, Professor Canter has spoken of what he called his "mistake".
Mrs Gilfoyle's family refused to believe she took her own life because they say that she was an outwardly happy person.
But Professor Canter said: "We know from recent cases that it is perfectly possible to hide feelings and present a happy face to the world."
ENDS