In the early hours of the 14th of February 1988 a young woman is murdered in an unlit, empty flat above a betting shop at number 7 James Street in Cardiff’s docklands.
Any murder is shocking but this one… particularly unsettling. Twenty-year-old Lynette White had been subjected to a vicious and frenzied knife attack. A team of 50 detectives set about the hunt for her killer. That investigation led not only to one of the UK’s most notorious miscarriages of justice but also the UK’s biggest-ever police corruption trial.
For the first time the untold story of what really happened is laid bare – revealed through the accounts of those whose lives were ruined by the scandal, by the then marginalised community of Butetown – the legendary Tiger Bay – torn apart by it, and by a cast of others from around the UK pulled into its vortex in the fight for justice.
‘Shreds: Murder in the dock’ reveals the full, personal, moving and deeply shocking story in a new podcast series – a prologue and 12 episodes – written and produced by BBC Wales journalist Ceri Jackson who grew up in the city in the 1980s.
At the time of the murder, Cardiff had just unveiled its vision for the future. The jewel in the crown was to attract investors to transform its once world famous but now desolate seaport into a brand new, shiny Cardiff Bay.
The pressure was on from all quarters to catch Lynette White’s killer. Beyond that, there was no reason why her name should have endured anywhere but in the memories of those who knew and loved her. But that was not to be.
Over the past 30 years the murder hunt resulted in a string of scandalous court cases, the true impact of which became fragmented by the passage of time in between each one.
You think you know the story of the Lynette White murder investigation? Think again.
In the streets behind the modern face of the city – the glittering waterfront of Cardiff Bay – lurks a truly shameful story which defies belief.
“Frankly if people had written a work of fiction about this they wouldn’t have believed it.
But this is fact.”
Shreds: Murder in the Dock is now available on the BBC Sounds app and other podcast providers.
