A matter of conviction

THE case against Michael Luvaglio and Dennis Stafford was never a strong one. Their friend and business associate Angus Sibbet was found dead in his car on a County Durham road a few days after New Year in 1967.

Detectives could establish no motive for the shooting, and had no forensic evidence to link their only suspects to the crime. Yet, a jury at Newcastle Assizes found Luvaglio and Stafford guilty and the pair were jailed for life.

The prosecution case hinged on damage to the cars used by all three men on the night of the killing, as well as a missing hour in the alibis of the two suspects during which time it was said the shooting must have happened. But there were dozens of statements gathered by police not given to the defence and not heard by the jury which contradict the case.

Supporters claim the guilty verdicts represent one of the worst miscarriages of justice from the last four decades, and Luvaglio has spent the past 37 years trying to clear his name. Evidence which he hopes will persuade the Criminal Cases Review Commission to order an appeal has been obtained by The Northern Echo.

Here, we take a look at both sides of the case.

THE CASE

POLICE had to prove that if Angus Sibbet was killed by Michael Luvaglio and Dennis Stafford, the shooting had to take place in a "missing" hour as they had alibis for the rest of the night.

They had left Stafford's home in Peterlee, County Durham, at around 11.30pm for a meeting with Mr Sibbet at the Birdcage Club in Newcastle at 12.30am.

The pair arrived at the club on time having first gone, they say, to Luvaglio's home in Newcastle where he was expecting to receive a midnight telephone call from his brother in Majorca.

Mr Sibbet's body was found in the back seat of his Mark 10 Jaguar at a place called Pesspool Bridge in South Hetton, a mining village several miles from Peterlee.

For the prosecution case to be believed, the killers had to have enough time to find Mr Sibbet, kill him, take his body and his car to South Hetton, where the car was supposed to have broken down, and drive 17 miles onto Newcastle in an hour.

A police reconstruction of the journey showed it took more than 46 minutes at high speed to get from South Hetton to the Birdcage Club - leaving little time, if any, for the other events to have taken place.

Furthermore, a neighbour of Luvaglio's in Newcastle - who was not called to give evidence - insisted she saw him at his house in Newcastle around midnight.

Other witnesses claim Mr Sibbet left a different club in Newcastle at 11.15pm or 11.20pm and visited a girfriend, so would not have had time to get to South Hetton before midnight.

SUPRESSED STATEMENTS

ORIGINAL police notes from the first officer at the scene of the killing and passers-by were never mentioned at the trial of Luvaglio and Stafford.

Local GP John Seymour Hunter was the first doctor on the scene at 5.50am and when he gave evidence at committal proceedings at magistrates' court made no mention of rigor mortis or anything he had done to determine its presence. Later, at the trial itself, he said he knew the man was dead because of his general appearance, the pallor, and the presence of rigor.

In all, 164 statements were not disclosed to the defence, including some accounts from miners who said they walked past the car between midnight and 2am and examined it closely - and never saw a body in the back seat or damage to the bodywork.

During one of the appeal hearings, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Widgery, said the witnesses may not have seen the body because they were not looking for one.

Three police statements were also withheld which show Mr Sibbet's car was not near Pesspool Bridge at the time the prosecution alleged the killing took place - at about 11.50pm.

Police Constable 1502 Grierson and Police Constable 1435 Hafferty both say the road was deserted when they travelled through South Hetton.

The third statement, from Police Constable 319 Ainsworth, is even more interesting as he remembered seeing a large Jaguar car in nearby Hetton-le-Hole heading towards South Hetton with a Mini following it at 12.20am - half an hour after the killing is supposed to have taken place.

DAMAGE TO CARS

THE police case was that Luvaglio and Stafford followed Mr Sibbet's Mark 10 Jaguar to a remote area, crashed into him, shot him and took his car and body back to South Hetton, where it was found.

Paint flakes from Mr Sibbet's red Mark 10 Jaguar were found on Stafford's E Type Jaguar, and green paint from Stafford's car were found on Mr Sibbet's.

The defence has been unable to explain how the cars came into contact but several theories have been put forward - indicating somebody wanted Stafford framed for the killing.

One customer at the Birdcage Club gave evidence in which she said the E Type was outside the club when she arrived at 12.35am, but not there when she left at 1.15am even though Stafford and Luvaglio were still inside.

It could be the case that the killer took the car and returned it without either of the two men knowing, or that the Mark 10 was driven to the club and the collision happened there.

One witness, club doorman Matthew Dean, recalled hearing a crash outside the nightspot at some point during the night.

Just before 2am, Stafford went to his car to get some cigarettes, and returned saying: "Someone has hit the back of my car."

Strangely, none of the 40-plus witnesses who passed Mr Sibbet's car at around 2am mentioned seeing the damage - which included both offside headlamps broken, the rear number plate and offside bumper buckled, chrome surround displaced, dents in the rear offside panel, damage to both rear lights and the rear offside window smashed with bullet holes in the rear stay of the driver's door window.

The prosecution evidence was that the damage to the Mark 10 Jaguar - a punctured radiator - forced the killers to abandon the car on the A182 near Pesspool Bridge.

But PC Clure's original statement - not read out at the trial or given to the defence - describes the car as being parked parallel to the kerb, about 1ft away, with the ignition key in the "off" position and gear leaver in "parked" position, indicating it had not been abandoned.

Further, drastic changes to the condition of the car were recorded in Detective Constable 1349 McQueen's pocketbook while it was in police custody.

The first entry from January 6 reads: "Good mechanical order, engine started" which contradicts the theory of it being unable to be driven.

Also, photographs show the Mark 10 Jaguar in four different places in a police yard - with windscreen wipers in different positions - which show the engine could not have seized on January 5.

Det Con McQueen's note from January 11 says: "Radiator punctured and leaking badly. Engine knocking."

It has been suggested by experts brought in by the defence that much of the damage was not consistent with a collision and could have been deliberately caused after the car was found.

The punctured radiator, it is claimed, could have been the result of a screwdriver being forced into it.

FORENSIC EVIDENCE

NO forensic evidence existed to link either Luvaglio or Stafford to the killing. There was no dirt or blood found on either of the two men and the forensic laboratory was unable to find evidence of fibre transfer between the accused and Mr Sibbet or his car, which experts said would have been inevitable.

The only trace of blood found in the car matched neither of the three men and, it is claimed by the defence, must go to show the involvement of another person.This other person, it is argued, could have been the one who caused the collision between the two cars.

MISSED EVIDENCE

LUVAGLIO claims two pieces of evidence which would have helped detectives find the real killer were "mysteriously lost" while in police custody.

Photographs from Mr Sibbet's car show his cash collection bag behind the driver's seat and a packet of cigars on the dashboard.

Luvaglio said the bag would have contained a substantial amount of money and a list of pubs and clubs he had visited to collect it, while the cigars - Mr Sibbet did not smoke them - may have been left by the killer and contained his fingerprints.

Of the missing evidence, Luvaglio says: "If this was capable of convicting the real killer and the police had already charged us, then the best thing to do to avoid embarrassment would be to make it disappear - which is exactly what happened."