£500,000 payout for 'Bakewell Tart' murder suspect

Stephen Downing, 49, had received an interim payout of £250,000 after being cleared of the notorious 1973 murder of Wendy Sewell on a legal technicality five years ago.

He walked free after serving 27 years in prison after Appeal Court judges ruled his conviction was unsafe because Mr Downing was not told he was under arrest or that he had the right to a solicitor.

At the time of the murder, dubbed the 'Bakewell Tart' case because of Mrs Sewell's promiscuous reputation, Mr Downing was a 17-year-old with a mental age of 11.

After he was released, Derbyshire Police conducted a £500,000 reinvestigation of the case in a bid to end the question marks left hanging over the case and address theories put forward by campaigning local journalist Don Hale, who was central to securing Mr Downing's freedom.

But although the nine-month Operation Noble inquiry ruled out 22 additional possible suspects put forward by Mr Hale in his book about the case, officers were unable to rule out Mr Downing's involvement.

Sources close to the investigation said new evidence from forensic scientists still pointed to Mr Downing being the prime suspect.

Police also examined a tape recording made of Mr Downing by his former girlfriend Christine Smith, in which he appeared to confess to the murder after he had been released from prison.

At the time, Mr Downing claimed he had been set up and had not been talking seriously. He has always maintained he is innocent of the crime.

Yesterday, the officer who led the reinvestigation joined Mrs Sewell's widower to condemn Mr Downing's payout for wrongful imprisonment.

And they called for him to be charged again with the murder following the abolishment last year of the ancient law of double jeopardy - which prevented somebody from being tried twice for the same offence.

David Sewell, 68, who still lives near Bakewell, said news of Mr Downing's compensation payout was like a 'kick in the teeth'.

He said: 'Obviously I'm disgusted Downing is receiving any compensation but more so now because we were told by the police after they had done their re-investigation that there was now no chance of him receiving any more money.

'It makes a mockery of the system when a man, who more than 30 years after Wendy's murder remains the police's prime suspect, indeed only suspect, is able to receive hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation.

'The Government have talked about readjusting the balance of the criminal justice system to tip the scales in favour of the victims of crime - so where is the justice for Wendy and her family in all this?'

Former Detective Chief Superintendent David Gee, who has now retired, said he was convinced Mr Downing still had a case to answer.

He claimed the Crown Prosecution Service had agreed there was a reasonable chance of securing a conviction against Mr Downing after his review of the case, but had now gone back on that view, without explanation.

Mr Gee said: 'The question that must be asked is why the CPS changed its mind?'

Last night, legal sources said that as Mr Downing had served 27 years in jail already, it was not in the public interest to bring fresh charges against him.

Mrs Sewell, a 32-year-old typist, was bludgeoned to death in the cemetery where Mr Downing worked in his home town of Bakewell, Derbyshire.

He confessed to attacking and sexually assaulting her, but later retracted his statement. He was jailed for life in 1974.

The Court of Appeal released Mr Downing in February 2001 and formally quashed the conviction as 'unsafe' the following year.

Yesterday, Mr Downing's mother Juanita confirmed her son had received the settlement within the last few weeks.

'He has bought a new Mitsubishi Shogun and now he is looking for a new place to buy,' she said.

A Home Office source confirmed the total settlement, which includes the interim payment, was close to £750,000.

The payment will be an embarrassment for the Government which has been working on a series of measures designed to prevent compensation payments to unworthy cases.

Earlier this year, then Home Secretary Charles Clarke announced payments in such cases would be capped at £500,000.

Last month his successor John Reid announced plans to change the Appeal Court system so than cases thrown out on technical grounds should not result in not guilty verdicts.

He said: 'It is not right or in the interests of justice that offenders can go free where there is clear evidence of guilt simply because of errors in the process.'

Mr Downing refused to comment on the payment yesterday.