Your Name

Your Address

House of Commons

London

SW1A 0AA

Date

MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE – Gordon Park

Dear (Your MP’s name),

I am writing in relation to the campaign to free Gordon Park, who has been wrongly imprisoned. The campaign has had the support of journalist Bob Woffinden, Private Eye magazine and many members of the public.

As a supporter of Mr Park, and residing within your constituency, I am writing to ask that you also consider using your position to assist the campaign to help free an innocent man. We are simply pushing for reconsideration of the evidence.

I am requesting that you act on my behalf. There are two things that you can do immediately:

1.Sign the online petition

2. Announce publicly that you support the campaign

I enclose a one page brief for your information, more details can be found at www.freegordon.com as well as the online petition. I hope that I will hear back from you soon with some indication of what you intend to do.

Yours sincerely,

Your Name

In Brief Carol Park went missing from her home near Barrow-in-Furness on the 17th July 1976. Her body was discovered in Coniston Water in 1997. Forensic tests indicated that Carol probably died from injuries sustained by a heavy blow to her face; there was no clear time or date of death and no murder weapon has ever been found. Gordon was charged with Carol’s murder but the charges were later dropped. At an inquest in 1998 the coroner ruled that Carol had been unlawfully killed. Gordon was rearrested in 2004 and convicted on the 28th January 2005.

• ·No firm time or place of death has ever been established. Forensic tests on the family home established that Carol wasn’t killed there. No murder weapon has ever been identified.
• ·Carol had had several relationships with other men during her marriage. These people are also potential suspects and should have been investigated thoroughly. Since there is no clear time or date of death any alibi must be considered unsafe.
• ·A VW Beetle was seen at the family home on the day Carol went missing, the driver and the car have never been traced despite being crucial to the investigation. A further acquaintance saw Carol at approximately 6pm at the southbound Charnock Richard services on the M6. This indicates that she was alive and well that evening.
• ·Fibres from the ropes found on Carol’s body do not match any rope samples taken from Gordon’s current and previous homes or his boat. The knots used on the body are commonplace in the Lake District and local area.
• ·Hammer marks on some lead piping found with Carol’s body do not match any of the hammers owned by Gordon. Paint marks on the piping do not match any samples from the family home.
• ·It emerged in 1997 that the original 1976 missing person’s enquiry files had disappeared with the loss of valuable information and witness statements; the police said that they were removed as part of a weeding policy. In fact, missing person’s enquiry files must always be kept until the enquiry is closed; they should still exist.
• ·Police divers recovered a rock from Coniston Water, claiming that it had similar characteristics to stones in a wall at the family home. Experts for the prosecution and defence are unable to agree on whether this rock is linked to the home. The expert for the defence has questioned whether the rock has ever been in the lake.
• ·The police officer who supposedly found the rock does not remember recovering it and said that if he had he would have put it back on the lake bed; he fainted at trial while giving evidence about it. Clothing found near the rock has no link with Carol.
• ·Two former prisoners allege that Gordon confessed to them in 1997 while on remand. One has smoked cannabis for approximately fourteen years, hears voices and suffers from memory loss. The other has learning difficulties and is highly suggestible. The first former prisoner only came forward after watching a documentary on the case in 2000; the police went looking for the second.
• ·A witness came forward in 2004 to say that she saw a man dumping a package over the side of a boat in July 1976. The boat was positioned 1.25 miles north of where the body was actually found. The body could not have drifted down the lake and up onto a ledge and it is impossible to clearly identify someone over that distance. The witness tried to say that the description of the man matched that of Gordon; however she only came forward after numerous photographs of Gordon had already appeared in the local and national press and television.