AFTER half a lifetime in jail protesting his innocence and a passionate campaign that led to his freedom, Stephen Downing remains the primary suspect for the murder of Wendy Sewell, a fresh police inquiry said yesterday.

Sixteen detectives spent six months in Derbyshire interviewing 1,600 witnesses, to conclude that he is still the only possible suspect for the 1973 killing of Mrs Sewell. The inquiry has dealt a devastating blow to Mr Downing, 46, and his supporters who on his release from jail two years ago called him the victim of Britain’s longest-running miscarriage of justice.

The inquiry also singled out for criticism the journalist Don Hale who, as Editor of The Matlock Mercury, proclaimed Mr Downing’s innocence in his newspaper. Mr Hale, who received an OBE for his work, has been accused of fabricating interviews.

Deputy Chief Constable Bob Wood said yesterday that officers had been able to rule out all of the 22 suspects identified in Mr Hale’s book, Town Without Pity. He said: “Despite the lengthy investigation, we have not been able to eliminate Stephen Downing from the inquiry.”

The officer added that if the proposed change to the double-jeopardy law was already on the statute books, he would be sending the evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service for a ruling.

Mr Downing repeated his claim of innocence in a statement yesterday, describing himself as disappointed but not surprised by the outcome. He said: “I did not have to spend 27 years in prison. If I had accepted guilt, I could have been freed years ago. But if I had done that I would have been unable to prove my innocence.”

The police have now officially declared the case closed but their conclusion has stunned the Derbyshire village.

Stephen Downing was a 17-year-old gardener when he was convicted of beating Mrs Sewell to death in the graveyard he tended near his home. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on what the judge called the “clearest possible” evidence.

In September 1973 Mrs Sewell wandered into the cemetery during her lunchbreak. Mr Downing, saying he had found her in a pool of blood, raised the alarm. She had been bludgeoned with a pickaxe handle. She was taken to hospital but died two days later.

Although he had a reading age of 11, Mr Downing was questioned with no lawyer or family member present, and said he was pressured into signing a confession. His parents campaigned tirelessly to have him freed until Mr Hale took up the cause in 1994.

When the Court of Appeal quashed the conviction last January Mr Downing pressed for the file to be reopened, claiming that he knew who the murderer was.

He was dismayed by the conclusions of the reinvestigation, which included new DNA evidence and statements from 360 new witnesses.

Police said that they had asked to interview Mr Downing under caution but he had refused.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• UK regional accents thrive against the odds
• ‘Scarecrow’ wind farms put rare birds to flight
• What an anti-climax: G-spot is a myth