Return of the Supergrass Panorama

The killing of two police officers in Manchester has highlighted the

problems of violent crime. These violent groups seek to maintain

fear. So in the fight against organised crime, the authorities

are making deals with some of the country's most serious criminals.

Conspiracy to rob, not in merger charge -- and a murder charge of

stock even those involved in murder are getting their prison sentences

slashed by 25 years. But relying on evidence from criminals has gone

wrong in the past for. There should be no countenancing prosecutions

based solely on supergrasses. why should we trust the supergrass

today? It will devour its own to survive, and that is what they do.

A sunny afternoon on the seafront at South Shields, an unlikely

setting for a gangland killing. But a crime was about to take place

that would introduce a new generation of supergrasses. Local

drug dealer Noddy Rice was waiting for his supplier, Alan Foster.

said, you do not want to get involved with him, there is

something about him I do not like. He said, or why, he is a great lad?

But not you rice and Alan Foster had fallen out. Police are not

certain whether it was over drugs, money, or a girlfriend. Whatever it

was, there was a score to settle. family friend knocked on the door

and said, have you heard, Noddy has been shot. Then his best friend

phoned and said, he's dead. The next thing I remember, I must have

screamed and collapsed on the floor. The killers burnt out the car and

dumped it close to the scene. They had an van close by. The driver

thought it was a drug deal and had no idea it would be a murder. The

drive it was Derek Blackburn. We cannot show his face. What happened

yesterday bear the hallmarks of a gangland killing. Direct

Blackburn's vehicle was traced and he was arrested. To start with, he

was reluctant to help the murder inquiry. He initially denied any

involvement in the offence and was about to be released from police

custody when he indicated that subject is speaking to his partner,

he may be in a position to assist the police and prosecution.

prosecutor was able to offer a pioneering deal. He used recently

introduced supergrass laws and became one of the country's leading

experts in them. The getaway driver, Derek Blackburn, would be one of

the first criminals in the country to benefit. Since the 2006, the

Crown Prosecution Service has been allowed to offer a straightforward

contracts to criminals like Blackburn. If they give evidence in

court against serious offenders, they will be rewarded with a

reduced jail sentence or even a promise they will not be prosecuted.

The most important thing is we require them to tell the truth. The

point about that is that if at any point we can demonstrate they have

not told the truth, we have the possibility that we can tear up the

written agreement, go back and perhaps prosecute them for perjury

and perverting the course of justice. Supergrasses, or assisting

offenders, are supposed to be minor criminals who have been encouraged

to testify against more serious criminals. We always look at

support and its to the key events - - subordinates. For example,

somebody who may have driven away a car from an offence as opposed to

the person struck the fatal blow. Prosecutors in South Shields had

signed up a textbook example of the supergrass laws, the getaway driver,

Derek Blackburn. Alan Foster fled the country and has never been

caught, but his accomplice was put on trial, so Blackburn did give

evidence against him. When Stephen Evans heard the supergrass evidence

in court, he immediately changed his plea to guilty of murder and

was sentenced to life. -- Bevans. Supergrass Blackburn did well out

of the deal. His jail sentence was much reduced. He was looking at 12

years. Compared to? Eventually, he got two-and-a-half. Bringing one of

Mr Rice's killers to justice was clearly in the public interest, but

the people who most needed to know that justice had been done with his

family. They had to come to terms with one of those involved getting

off lightly. It was hard at first, because I am thinking, has this man

took them to where they have taken up and he has murdered my brother

and got away with it, but when we went to court I thought, he is

definitely telling the truth. you think the authorities were

right to use him? In cases like this, yes, definitely. New figures

released today should the authorities are using them more and

more. Since a 2006 there has been 175 supergrass deals. The courts

have said only in exceptional cases will prison sentences be cut by

more than two-thirds. But Panorama has traced and analysed 49

supergrass cases. In 21 of them, the supergrass's sentence was cut

by more than two-thirds, and 13 at supergrass witnesses had a jail

term slashed by more than 80%. the one hand the public expects,

and it is the business of the Crown Prosecution Service, to prosecute

people who have committed criminal offences. On the other hand,

parliament have said we should consider using witnesses who are

perhaps not the most admirable citizens, because they may have

committed offences themselves, to bring other more serious criminals

to justice. The price of solving the most serious crimes can

sometimes be even higher. 11-year- old Rhys Jones was shot dead by a

teenager on a bike early yesterday evening. In a handful of cases,

seven since the new laws came in, supergrasses have been rewarded

with a total immunity from prosecution. Someone knows who has

done it. I know people are frightened but they have got to

think that they cannot leave this killer out there. Police got an

anonymous tip-off telling them who had shot Rees Jones, but people

were too frightened to come forward with hard evidence. Then there was

a breakthrough. Detectives found the gun used to kill him at the

home of the 16-year-old gang member. Boy A X, as he became known, told

the police he had been given a gun to hide by this teenager, Sean

Mercer, within half-an-hour of the murder. For the first time there

was a chance of catching the killer, but to do that prosecutors had to

make a deal with the gang member involved in covering up a child's

murder. When we became aware of a youth who could potentially be a

very valuable witness by putting a murder weapon in the hand of Sean

Mercer, it was obvious that we had to give serious consideration as to

whether it was in interest of justice to approach him more as a

witness and as a possible defendant. The CPS decided to use a supergrass

deal to charge all Mercer with murder. -- Sean Mercer. To convict

him, they were prepared to go as far as the new law allowed, to

offer not just a sentence reduction but total immunity from prosecution.

We looked at the other options and we decided that the issue of an

immunity notice would enable us to manage the witness and to control

the witness better than the other options. We made absolutely clear

to beware ex what he had to do to secure immunity -- Boy X. As a

result of this evidence, up Sean Mercer was found guilty of murder

and sentenced to life. Supergrass evidence had been a crucial but

this time, it came at a high price: Total immunity from prosecution.

But even the murdered boy's parents thought the supergrass deal was

good. I think it was, to secure the conviction of the main offenders

was the priority and the information he gave to the police

was a good trade-off, so to speak. Was it difficult for you to accept

the idea of him not been punished? No. If he had played a bigger role,

perhaps I would have been more worried about the fact he's walking

away Scot free, but what he actually did was minimal to an

extent. Supergrasses have a controversial history. Deals were

often done with the police and sometimes hidden. It led to trouble.

In the 1970s there was an epidemic of armed robberies in London. It

was clear it up using supergrasses. There is no doubt at all that this

is fundamentally a good system. the supergrasses what of the

notorious villains, keen to stay out of jail. To get myself off, but

someone in it. But some deals were corrupt. Supergrasses begin crooked

witnesses lied in court in return for favours from the police. They

are just using the police to stay out of prison and the police are

using these supergrasses to further their own careers are. Case after

case collapsed. The work of leading defence lawyers, like Michael

Mansfield, led to the use of supergrass evidence being totally

discredited. The thing that used to happen in the 1980s, and is

happening right now, that yes, these people will know about crime,

but in order to in vagal their way into their favours, they dress it

up. They dress it up in the way that they put people at the scene

who were not there, even though they were. And as course, they have

access to grind -- axes. They have been better to settled. That is why

I think there should be no countenancing prosecutions based

solely on supergrasses. Today's supergrasses are no different.

Relying on evidence is as risky as ever. What are you hoping to

achieve by speaking to us today? Stewart is charged with murder but

he has found a way out by becoming a supergrass. Hopefully me actually

being sentenced for conspiracy to rob and not a murder charge. No

murder charge. Sandy Stewart was charged with a particularly brutal

murder. -- Sonny. They beat Mr Simpson ferociously... The gang had

been looking for money. When they could not find it, they tortured

and beat Eddy Sims into death. Police had CCTV of the gang from

Leeds arriving in a white van -- Teddy Simpson. Mr Stewart admitted

he helped to recruit them but he denied going anywhere near the

victim's house themselves. thought they would threaten him. Do

you Know What I Mean? I did not believe there was serious harm

going to come to this guy. But the robbery ended in murder. Debt, or

dining, Mr Simpson was taking from his home and his body was dumped in

woodland -- dead or dying. Mr Stewart admitted he had been in

touch with a gang through about. Police eventually charged seven men

with murder, including Mr Stewart, but when Mr Stewart signed a

supergrass contract the Crown Prosecution Service reduced his

murder charge to manslaughter. They accepted his story that he had had

no idea the robbery would end in violence. If a number of men agreed

to carry out a violent robbery and organise a violent robbery and the

victim dies as a consequence of the violence, then they are guilty of

murder, and there is no room for manslaughter in that situation.

What was going on was a fiction effectively. A bogus charge which

was created for Sandy Stewart's benefit. We need to get back to

these papers, keep it simple. from the start, there were doubts

about Mr Stewart's account. In court he insisted only three men

had attacked Mr Simpson, two of But an eyewitness said something

different. Gary cop card had called at the house during a robbery. He

had also been savagely beaten. He told police that there might have

been a 4th gang member. The three he could describe what all black.

Definitely all three or four of them were Jamaican. I do not know

if there were three or four. All of those man were dark, Afro-Caribbean.

They were all Jamaican fellows. at first, Sonny Stuart had also

told police that three black men were involved. Just the threat of

three big black guys going in with a replica gun, not knowing it was a

replica, slapping them about a bit, sitting them down, saying why is

the money? I was under the impression that they would say, yes,

here it is. What did you expect them to do? Three black guys, you

know what I mean? Just guys from out of town. Why would they think

they were black? Probably the masks. I think I just said through black

guys because of the statements that I had been reading. It is not easy,

is it? It is clear on watching that interview that he slipped, and

realised that he had slipped because he laughed nervously. He

corrected himself. His final version was that there were two

black men and one white man, who were to attack Mr Simpson. Just the

three men identified by Sonny were convicted of attacking and killing

Teddy Simpson. There was plenty of other evidence that they were at

the murder scene. But Sonny was the crucial witness against the other

defendants. Including this man, his friend Anthony Davies. They were

like Gazans, just like Cousins, you know? -- cousins. If you saw

Anthony, Sonny was not far away. They were drug dealers. On a night

of the murder, Sonny said they were together. He said they had both

played a part in the robbery, but Anthony was always in charge. Even

using Sonny's telephone to give the orders. All this time, Anthony has

got my telephone because he is directing the matters. We are

talking about my telephone that he is the one who has got it. Are you

with me? At a second trial, four more man were found guilty of

robbery or murder. -- Nairn. Anthony was sentenced to a minimum

of 35 years, largely on Sonny's evidence. He used his get out of

jail free card. That is what Sonny did. The system bought into it.

Sonny could have been sentenced to 30 years. He got to just seven. He

has since been released. The judge told him that he had been lucky.

But for his supergrass deal with the prosecution, he would have been

convicted of murder. Pleading guilty to manslaughter, and

conspiracy to rob, deflected the prosecution's view of the evidence.

Sonny's evidence was backed up by the available evidence, the jury

convicted at the Court of Appeal said that conviction was safe. It

was not just some deal that was done for the sake of it. Anthony is

locked up in a top-security prison. The Criminal Cases Review

Commission has recently decided to investigate his conviction. Whether

or not supergrass evidence can be relied on his once again an issue.

If there has been a potential miscarriage of justice, and more

over a violent murderer is now free, after spending a very short period

in prison, it is very difficult to see what the public interest has

been. In the past, supergrass cases gained a reputation for unravelling.

But now we are told these new arrangements are safer.

Supergrasses like Sonny are meant to sign formal agreements to tell

the truth. It is that openness, that transparency, that attempts to

keep everything above board that should be at the heart of each new

supergrass prosecution. The new supergrass laws were

brought in because the police and prosecutors believed they were

losing the fight against organised crime. Whether that threat is

growing is difficult to prove. But every city has its violent

Newcastle-upon-Tyne is no exception. We have evidence that the gunman

lay in wait to kill Mr Knight and we cannot rule out the possibility

that it was as a result of a feud. Gangster Friday night was shot dead

on his mother's doorstep. -- and Mr Knight. Police suspected that he

had been killed by rivals. The chief suspect was John Sayers, the

leading member of a well-known Tyneside crime family. My father,

my cousins, they have all been in prison. My father got shot. My

younger brother Michael got shot six times. He survived. In 1990, I

got 15 years for conspiracy to rob. In 2007, I got four years for tax

evasion. In between that, I have had two or three years on remand

for different offences. John Sayers and some of his associates were

charged with the murder of Mr Knight. They said that I had

organised it. How? By planning it. The murder trial was moved to Leeds

and it high-security. Armed police brought the defendants to court.

Surveillance teams filled everyone arriving. Despite the huge effort,

there was still a serious security breach. One of the jurors was

telephoned and threatened. Police investigated but could not link it

to anyone so the trial carried on. Three men were convicted of

manslaughter. But not John Sayers. John Sayers was acquitted of all

the charges after the three-month trial at Leeds Crown Court.

Although he was now a free man, he believed he would always be a

police target. I knew they would leave us alone for a short while

because they had been embarrassed. So I knew they would be coming back.

I did not know when or where but I knew they would be back. Seven

years later, events at the murder trial came back to haunt him. The

supergrass came forward with dramatic new evidence that John

Sayers had been behind the attempt to nobble the juror. This man,

Errol Hay, was a Newcastle criminal and paid police informer. He claims

that during a visit to the court he had been instructed to make the

threatening telephone call. only day he was there was when

everything was explained in open court as to what had happened the

night before. That is when he learned about it. I knew he was an

informer from years ago. I did not have anything to do with him.

knew him? I knew him, yes. What was he like? A drug addict. A little

weasel. Darrell Pace said he had been told what to do by John Sayers.

-- Errol. He took police officers to this former mining visit near

Newcastle and showed then the telephone box where he had made the

call. The police knew this was the right phone box and they traced the

threatening phone-call after it was made. This was the vital

corroboration they needed before taking the word of a supergrass.

we are not able to corroborate what they say, or if we cannot

contradict what they say, then it is extremely likely that we will

advance them as credible witnesses of truth. Following his success in

the Noddy murder case, prosecutor Kingsley Highland now signed a

supergrass contract with Errol and he was given an alias. John Sayers

was charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. What

would have been the personal consequences of it going all the

way? Dying in jail. Entire case relied 101% on the supergrass

telling the truth. This was a one witness case and he was either

telling the truth or he was not. But some in the prosecution to

already knew that he was lying. He had beefed up his story by telling

the police that he had made not just one telephone call to the jury

in Leeds, but two. Again he took them to the phone box that he said

he had used. But this time when the police checked, there had been no

telephone call. They could not find any record of anyone calling Leeds

that night and it called his credibility into question. If he

could not be believed about this one, why should he be believed

about making that first threatening phone call? The CPS new but the

defence did not that no such call to Leeds could have been made from

any of 48 telephone boxes that were trolled and investigated within a

three-mile radius. If I had had this material when I was cross-

examining the supergrass over two of three days, I would have

exploded him as a witness of truth. Yet it was denied to the defence.

The jury nobbling case came to an abrupt end when the defence

obtained the telephone records that showed that he was lying. They only

got them late in the day from a police officer. They should have

been handed over much earlier by the CPS. The judge was highly

critical of the prosecution, saying there had been a deliberate,

conscious decision to flout the rules. He then ordered that the

trial should be stopped. The person who failed to disclose the key

evidence revealing the supergrass had lied, was the senior prosecutor,

Kingsley Highland. The CPS refused to allow him to answer questions

about this himself. Would you categorise this as a gross failure?

The material should have been disclosed and it was not and it led

to the halting of the prosecution. That has been a very painful

experience for everybody concerned and that case, together with one or

two of the once, meant that we are now dealing with disclosure, with

new systems in place, to make sure that this sort of thing never

happens again. Errol died of cancer shortly after giving his evidence.

His supergrass contract had -- to tell the truth turned out not to be

worth the paper it was written on. It is too easy for anybody to go

and tell lies without there being any fear of reprisal by the system.

Once you are accepted as a supergrass, that is it. You can say

whatever you want. Is it the point that the new system cannot change

the nature of those defendants and we are exactly in the same place

when this system was discredited? will say this to you. You have to

make a decision in each individual case. We reject far more of these

proposed agreements than we agree to. It is only when it is clear to

us that we can put a win us forward in a way that will most benefit the

public interest and convict serious criminals of very serious offences

when we might not otherwise be able to. -- put a witness forward.

Supergrass evidence is to buy a book to be ignored. So was the old

generation, until they were discredited. -- supergrass evidence

is too valuable to be ignored. Next week we investigate how