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Hi, and welcome back to The
Unseen Podcast, a podcast dedicated to missing

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people, unresolved cases, and UK
true crime. Today we're going to be

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exploring the mysterious and tragic case of
the murder of Annie Walsh in Hume in

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Manchester in nineteen seventy seven. Her
murder was violent and seemingly without motive,

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and the events which followed it,
including the investigation, have been mad with

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issues. An arrest and conviction was
made, but this would not turn out

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to be the breakthrough that anyone was
expecting. This episode contains descriptions that some

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listeners may find distressing, including two
brief references to miscarriage, so listener discretion

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is advised. Hume Crescents was a
social housing development built in nineteen seventy two

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in the district of Hume, just
south of Manchester City Center. The development

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was borne out of the need for
better quality housing in the area and a

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move away from the rows of terrace
houses which were becoming unfit for their purpose.

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When the development plan was being drawn
up, a bold decision was made

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Hume Crescents were not going to go
down the high rise residential route as so

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many other cities had done. The
idea was to build a society in the

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sky. There were going to be
four U shaped blocks of flats, all

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seven stories high, each story containing
flats with between one to five bedrooms.

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There would also be shops, parks, and even churches on each story so

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that residents could live away from the
hustle and bustle of the city life below.

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The walkways were also wide enough so
that residents could still get their milk

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from the milk floats going by.
This concept was completed and residents began filtering

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into the Crescents, which had all
been named after other distinguished architects, Robert

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Adam, John Nash, William Kent, and Charles Barry. The Hume Crescents

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became the largest public housing development in
Europe, with three thousand, two hundred

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and eighty four homes and the capacity
to house thirteen thousand residents. In theory,

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the Crescents solved many of the problems
that overcrowded Hume were struggling with.

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However, new issues quickly became apparent
after residents moved and settled in. One

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of the first things that became apparent
was that the Crescents were not suitable for

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children, despite being marketed as good
for families. The buildings were made out

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of thick concrete, including the balconies, and the design of these meant that

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children were able to climb onto the
thick ledges and were vulnerable to falling off.

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This did happen to a five year
old child in nineteen seventy four,

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and it was at this point that
it was clear that families with small children

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could not be housed there. A
petition signed by six hundred and forty three

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families was presented a Manchester City Council
agreed to rehouse them. As a result,

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the Crescents would now only house adults. This would turn out to be

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one of many issues with the buildings. The houses were subject to pest infestation,

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cockroaches and rats were rife, and
the residents couldn't afford to heat their

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homes due to the then still experimental
underfloor heating that had been installed. The

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nineteen seventy three oil crisis meant that
people could not afford the prices to heat

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the homes, and damp began to
creep into the residences. Due to the

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size of the estate. Many issues
arose, like the inability to get emergency

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service help or police support to the
upper levels, and a long term problem

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that was faced was the sheer amount
of asbestos which had been used during the

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construction. This would cause many issues
throughout the years that the Crescents existed.

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Residents began to give the Crescents the
nickname of the bull Ring, and this

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negative connotation was a common opinion of
people who lived there. Only a few

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years after the Crescents had been built, many people were not enjoying living there,

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and by the early nineteen eighties,
Manchester City Council were no longer charging

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the residents rent to live there.
Many flats were vacant and many people were

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using the flats for other activities,
including club nights, which were ran by

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factory Records before their fame. The
Crescents were eventually demolished in nineteen ninety three

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and all of the residents had been
rehoused. In nineteen seventy seven, fifty

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six year old Annie Walsh was living
at six hundred and fifty two Charles Barry

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Crescent. Annie was working in a
local factory and lived alone at her flat

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in the Crescents. Unfortunately, there
is very little known about Annie as a

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person. However, it was known
that while she didn't have any children of

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her own, she did have three
siblings and nephews and nieces. It seemed

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that Annie kept herself to herself,
and while living in the Crescents wasn't the

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most ideal of situations for anyone,
she seemed to make it work. The

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thirty first of January nineteen seventy seven
was a very cold, freezing day,

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and on that morning, an electricity
worker was at the Crescents reading meters.

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When he arrived at six hundred and
fifty two Charles Barry Crescent, he was

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able to gain entry to the flat
and it was at this point that he

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realized that something awful had happened in
there. When he got into the living

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room, there was an awful scene. Blood was splattered around the room,

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all over the furniture, the walls, and some was even on the ceiling.

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Sitting slumped in a chair was Annie
Walsh. She had been bludgeoned around

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the head sixteen times and it was
clear that whatever had happened to her had

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been a violent murder. Greater Manchester
Police had a murder scene on their hands,

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and it had taken place in the
largest housing estate in Europe, where

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thousands of people resided. This was
immediately a huge concern, and trying to

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locate any information about who had been
with Annie or had seen her before she

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was murdered was pivotal. Due to
the fact that Annie generally kept herself to

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herself, finding out her movements must
have been difficult, particularly as Annie's body

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had lain there for two to three
days before it was discovered. These quickly

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began gathering as much information as they
could from her family members and other residents

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in the surrounding area of her home. Trevor, one of Annie's nephews,

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later recalled that he used to visit
his aunt fortnightly in the time before she

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was murdered. He stated, she
lived on the sixth floor of the bull

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Ring and it was pretty awful back
then, but the inside was always tidy.

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She was a spinster, she kept
herself to herself and worked in a

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factory. This, however, was
all that he knew, and when he

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found out that she had been murdered, he said that as he was only

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seventeen, he was kept away from
most of the details. His mother,

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Kathleen, along with Annie's other siblings, Bob and Mabel, must have been

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devastated that she'd been murdered in such
a callous and demeaning way. There was

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also the question of who would have
wanted to kill Annie, who appeared to

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be such an unassuming and innocent victim
with no reason for someone to want to

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harm her. Greater Manchester Police knew
that conducting an investigation in a housing estate

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as large as the Crescents was going
to be difficult. The police set up

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an incident van at the Crescents and
began doing inquiries with as many residents as

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possible. Through these interviews, they
were able to gain a lead about someone

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who Annie had been spotted with before
her death. A witness had seen Annie

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one day with a man who appeared
to be helping her take her shopping up

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to her flat. It was unclear
if this man had anything to do with

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Annie's murder, but it was one
of the only leads that police had during

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this investigation, and so they decided
to create a photo fit of the man

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and place it on the sides of
the incident van so that other residents in

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the Crescents could see it. This
man was described as being in his thirties

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and had a distinctive cleft lip,
which police hope would be recognizable to someone.

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This man was certainly a person of
interest in an investigation where there was

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little concrete evidence, and witness sightings
were the best thing that they could go

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on. Over the next few weeks
and months, police continued to appeal for

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witnesses from the crescents and try to
find out as much as they could.

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Police were concerned by the brutality and
the frenzied nature of Annie's attack, and

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were worried that this person had some
severe mental health issues which could lead them

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to attack again. As a result
of this concern, they made inquiries at

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mental health units in the area to
check that no patience had escaped. During

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this time, police were under pressure
to make an arrest and to find the

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person who had committed this murder,
and four months after Annie's murder, news

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began to circulate that they had made
an arrest. This arrest took place in

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the presence and on Charles Barry Crescent, the same location as Annie lived,

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but a couple of floors lower down. The full circumstances of this arrest would

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become known. Later on, however, police announced that an arrest had been

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made of a man named Robert Brown. Robert was originally from Glasgow and had

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moved down to Manchester at the age
of sixteen as he had a love of

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the footballer George Best and a passion
for Manchester United. He wanted a fresh

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start for himself and during his teenage
years he had gotten into trouble with the

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law. He had accrued several convictions
for shoplifting and other minor offenses. He

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didn't want that to be his life, however, and he met his girlfriend

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Cathy, and the pair found out
that they were expecting a baby. Robert

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and Cathy initially moved into John Nash
Crescent. However, they moved to Charles

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Barry Crescent to live with friends when
the woman they were living with at the

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time moved back to Scotland. Robert
and Cathy were a young couple but were

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trying to get by in life,
like many of the residents of the crescents.

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The fact that in May of nineteen
seventy seven that then nineteen year old

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Robert was arrested for Annie's murder wouldn't
have caused too many ripples within the community.

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Given that Annie was a quiet person
and Robert had a criminal record,

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albeit a minor one, and he
also lived close to Annie, Greater Manchester

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police were adamant that they had their
man, and only a few months after

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his arrest, Robert Brown was taken
to trial and convicted of the murder.

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This Greater Manchester police believed was case
closed and a murder solved, and it

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may well have been. But given
that we hear on the unseen cover only

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unsolved cases, I'm sure you can
tell this wasn't the end of the story.

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Robert Brown maintained his innocence during his
arrest, during his trial and afterwards,

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he maintained that he didn't murder Annie, and actually that he had never

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met her nor seen her in his
life. He had a story of his

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own to tell and it would completely
upend both the investigation and his conviction.

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During the trial, it was heard
that Robert Brown had confessed to the murder

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of Annie Walsh and that this had
largely been the basis of his conviction,

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along with some bloody jeans which police
stated Robert had been wearing when he had

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murdered her. Robert was adamant that
the genes weren't his and that he hadn't

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murdered Annie. He maintained at trial
that police had beaten him, punched him

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in the abdomen, and stripped him
naked. He also stated that while he

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was naked, policeman whipped him with
wet towels. He explained that the whole

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ordeal began when police arrested him at
his home, where he was in bed

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when they arrived at seven am.
He explained that he believed he was being

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taken to the police station for non
payment of a fine that he had received

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for a burglary that he had committed, and didn't know that he was being

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taken away for Annie's murder. His
girlfriend, Cathy, who was pregnant at

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the time, was asked to stand
inside a cupboard, and Robert was taken

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away in an ordinary looking car and
not a police car. The whole scenario

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was a little strange, and it
was only when Robert got to plat Lane

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police station that he realized that he, while he was being charged for non

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payment of a fine in relation to
the burglary, had actually been arrested on

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charges of murder. He said that
he was questioned about his whereabouts on the

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day that Annie had been killed,
and Robert wasn't completely sure about where he

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was. He later stated that police
he told him if he couldn't account for

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where he was, then he could
be convicted for the murder. Robert didn't

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know how to answer and couldn't remember
what he was doing that day. There

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was nothing odd about that day,
and so trying to account for it four

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months later proved difficult. Robert later
stated in the Manchester Evening News, they

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told me if I didn't know where
I was, I could be convicted of

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murder. But I didn't know where
I was. Four months had gone by

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and I didn't keep a diary.
I'd been laid off the Christmas before,

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so I wasn't in work. This
inability to explain where he was indicated to

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police that Robert did have something to
do with the murder, and they continued

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to put more and more pressure on
him to confess to it. Robert explained

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that the interview turned more into an
interrogation and then descended into violence. He

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said that he was taken into a
women's locker room at the police station and

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they began to assault him, with
one police as a playing good cop and

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another officer playing bad cop. Robert
stated he went from an interview to interrogation

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tactics. They started punching me in
the abdomen, took my clothes and began

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whipping me with wet towels like children
in the playground to humiliate me. I

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was a vulnerable boy. He explained
that this questioning went on like this for

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two days, as police continually pushing
him for more answers, which Robert said

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he didn't have as he didn't commit
the murder. Robert stated that this all

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culminated in officers asking him to sign
a blank piece of paper, which he

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learned later. The officers then wrote
a confession which Robert had allegedly made,

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which he strongly denied. Robert maintained
from his arrest that he always stated his

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innocence and he couldn't see how officers
could explain the fact that he was guilty

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to the jury. He laid said
that when the jury at the trial found

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him guilty using the evidence presented,
he was astonished. He stated, I

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couldn't take it seriously. I was
an uneducated boy. I didn't think they

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could possibly find me guilty when I
hadn't done anything. It was their word

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against mine. The judge at the
trial said to the jury, you can

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either believe the high ranking and experienced
police officers, or you can believe the

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defendant. The victim's family was screaming
at me as I was led away.

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I was screaming back that I was
innocent. It was a horrible experience.

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I can't really put it into words. It's surreal, like an outer body

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experience, talking to people who don't
believe a word you say. Robert knew

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that he had been the victim of
a miscarriage of justice and couldn't understand how

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he had been convicted for something that
he hadn't done. He began his sentence

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for Annie's murder knowing that he had
nothing to do with it. This must

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have been an extremely harrowing experience.
It was particularly hard given that he had

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just been getting his life together at
the time that he was arrested, and

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that his girlfriend, Kathy was pregnant
at the time. Sadly, Kathy miscarried

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their baby before the trial began,
and Robert was devastated by the whole series

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of events. In the years that
followed, Robert continued to maintain his innocence,

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and he explained that he began to
educate himself in prison. He stated,

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I educated myself. I wanted to
get a better insight into myself and

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my experience. I read books about
people in the same position as me too.

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I knew I had to campaign for
myself. The only person who was

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going to get me out was me. Robert had a tough time in prison

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and would later state that he was
angry about what had happened to him and

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that being inside made him a violent
person. It reported that he would smash

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up his cell and wasn't a model
prisoner. He was moved more than seventy

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times during his time in prison.
Speaking about this, he said, prison

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turned me into a violent character.
You have to become hardened. You have

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to become violent because otherwise people take
liberties prisoners and prison staff. I was

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unpredictable and violent towards prison staff.
I wouldn't do anything I was told.

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I was an obstructive little bastard.
They wanted my respect, but that has

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to be earned. They tried to
break me, bend me, but they

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couldn't do it. You can't break
someone who's innocent. It gives you a

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reservoir of strength that you don't know
you have until something like this happens.

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Robert was in a tough spot as
he never admitted to being part of the

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murder, as he was innocent,
and so he was seen as though he

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was just being obstructive and just didn't
want to admit what he had done.

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This is the catch twenty two which
innocent prisoners are in in many miscarriage of

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justice cases, and by not admitting
it, it means they are less likely

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00:19:07.720 --> 00:19:11.200
to get parole and the chance to
ever get out of prison, as they

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00:19:11.240 --> 00:19:17.839
had not been deemed as rehabilitated.
Robert did have the chance to ask for

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parole after around ten to fifteen years, but he refused to apply for it

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00:19:22.559 --> 00:19:25.519
as it meant that he had to
admit what he had done, and of

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00:19:25.559 --> 00:19:30.599
course Robert wouldn't do that. He
stated, there were only two ways I

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00:19:30.680 --> 00:19:36.920
was coming out of that prison,
dead or innocent. He did eventually apply

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00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:38.480
for it, however, when he
learned that his mother, Margaret, had

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00:19:38.480 --> 00:19:45.200
been diagnosed with cancer. However,
this was turned down. Robert had been

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00:19:45.240 --> 00:19:48.960
unable to be with both his father
and sister, and they had died while

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00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:53.319
he was in prison. His girlfriend, Cathy's life had also clearly been effected

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00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:57.799
in the next few decades, as
she passed away from alcohol poisoning in nineteen

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00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:04.559
ninety two. The sadness and tragedy
surrounding Robert's situation cannot be overlooked, and

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00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:11.079
it must have felt like his life
couldn't change. There was some movement in

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00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:15.880
Robert's case, though, as he
had the help of Robert Lazar's team of

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00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:22.279
solicitors, who were based in Moss
Side in Manchester. Robert Lazar's solicitors had

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00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:26.720
been around since nineteen seventy eight and
were known for their involvement in both high

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00:20:26.759 --> 00:20:32.640
profile and unusual cases. They had
been working on Robert's case and a new

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00:20:32.680 --> 00:20:37.680
piece of evidence had come to light. A report had been uncovered which was

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00:20:37.720 --> 00:20:42.519
written by Superintendent Peter Topping in nineteen
seventy nine, just a year after Robert's

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00:20:42.519 --> 00:20:49.960
conviction. Superintendent Topping had detailed a
culture of corruption, specifically at plat Lane

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00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:56.160
Police Station, the same one in
which Robert had been taken. The details

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00:20:56.200 --> 00:21:00.240
contained in this report had led to
the prosecution of Jack Butler, one of

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00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:07.599
the investigators on Robert's case, and
two other officers. This report was known

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00:21:07.640 --> 00:21:11.839
to Greater Manchester Police and to the
Home Office, but he has never been

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00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:17.359
disclosed to Robert's legal team, meaning
that this was new information to them.

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00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:22.519
This was crucial given that Robert had
alleged abuse and assault, as well as

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00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:29.559
improper practices from the same police force
and the same police station. And there

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00:21:29.640 --> 00:21:33.759
was more information that emerged. Robert's
legal team found that there had been a

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00:21:33.839 --> 00:21:40.319
match from fibers that had been recovered
from Annie's coat to another person. This

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00:21:40.440 --> 00:21:44.920
person had been a suspect at the
time of the investigation, and the fibers

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00:21:44.920 --> 00:21:48.799
recovered matched one from a jumper that
had been seized from him as a result

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00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:55.160
of inquiries. Not only that,
but this alternate suspect had also been picked

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00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:59.079
out of an identity parade by a
witness who saw him with Annie not long

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00:21:59.119 --> 00:22:03.720
before the murder. This evidence was
not disclosed to the defense team at trial

256
00:22:03.799 --> 00:22:08.599
and would have provided the jury with
a possible alternate suspect to consider instead of

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00:22:08.680 --> 00:22:15.680
just Robert. More forensic evidence was
also found. The bloody genes, which

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00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:19.960
it had been alleged belonged to Robert, contained neither Robert or Annie's blood,

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00:22:21.319 --> 00:22:23.480
and it was discovered that the blood
belonged to a woman who had had a

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00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:30.519
miscarriage, as well as a now
lack of forensic evidence pointing in the direction

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00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:37.599
of Robert. His confession was also
being scrutinized more closely. Two forensic linguistics

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00:22:37.720 --> 00:22:41.240
experts had taken a look at it
and decided that it could not have been

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00:22:41.240 --> 00:22:45.400
dictated to police as they had previously
alleged, meaning that Roberts claimed that he

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00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:52.640
hadn't confessed to anything gained more weight. Robert later stated, they had no

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00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:59.039
evidence to connect me to Annie Walsh, no physical or forensic evidence. I

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00:22:59.079 --> 00:23:02.839
didn't know her, I was never
in her home. There were no witnesses

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00:23:02.839 --> 00:23:06.000
to link me to it. As
much as they tried to fabricate it after

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00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:11.559
my arrest, but they got away
with it in nineteen seventy seven. I

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00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:15.119
was just there, an honorable boy
who didn't know what day it was.

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Over twenty years after Robert's conviction,
the newly formed Criminal Cases Review Commission RCCRC,

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which had formed in nineteen ninety seven, began to investigate Robert's case and

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00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:34.000
found many of these things that had
been uncovered very troubling. In two thousand

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00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:38.000
and two, an appeal hearing was
scheduled to discuss many of the aspects of

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00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:44.799
Robert's case and the new evidence that
had been found. This appeal hearing took

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00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:49.000
just thirteen minutes. The Crown stated
that they didn't want to contest the case,

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00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:53.839
and Laard Justice Rose found that the
conviction was unsafe and that Roberts should

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00:23:53.880 --> 00:24:00.079
be released. He had been imprisoned
for over twenty five years, and despite

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00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:04.400
this result, Robert felt that the
wording of unsafe did not do justice to

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00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:08.440
the decades of his life he had
spent in prison for something he hadn't done.

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00:24:10.440 --> 00:24:12.839
He told the m e n I'm
still not happy with that. It's

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00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:18.599
not good enough. They make it
sound like they just don't have enough evidence

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00:24:18.599 --> 00:24:22.519
to convict you. There's no innocent
verdict in the criminal justice system, just

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00:24:22.680 --> 00:24:33.920
guilty or not guilty. This was, of course, what Robert had wanted

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00:24:33.960 --> 00:24:37.119
for many years, and he was
able to be with his mother before she

285
00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:42.079
passed away, which must have been
some comfort. Robert, however, had

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00:24:42.119 --> 00:24:47.920
been forever altered by the experience and
felt a lot of resentment towards the police

287
00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:51.880
and the people had been responsible for
him being convicted in the first place.

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00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:56.400
He explained that when he left prison, he was basically left to deal with

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00:24:56.480 --> 00:25:00.839
life by himself with little support,
despite being out of touch with the outside

290
00:25:00.839 --> 00:25:04.559
world for a quarter of a century. He was given forty five pounds and

291
00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:10.440
a train ticket and told to go
on his way. This, he feels

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00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:14.720
isn't good enough and trying to adjust
to life again was extremely difficult for Robert.

293
00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:19.119
He explained that he received two hundred
and fifty thousand pounds in compensation for

294
00:25:19.160 --> 00:25:23.720
his wrongful conviction, but due to
the trauma that he had experienced and his

295
00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:30.359
lack of both education and life experience
before his conviction, he had no concept

296
00:25:30.440 --> 00:25:34.160
of the idea of money. He
also stated that the prison service asked for

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00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:38.359
a hundred thousand pounds of that back
for his living expenses in the years that

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00:25:38.440 --> 00:25:44.640
he was in prison. It was
never about money. I haven't got any

299
00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:48.079
money now. I'm skin on benefits. I didn't have any real concept of

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00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:52.400
money. It was just paper.
I wasted the two hundred and fifty thousand

301
00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:56.440
pounds on drink, drugs, women, and holidays. I couldn't even tell

302
00:25:56.480 --> 00:26:00.799
you I enjoyed spending it. I
didn't want the money. It was blood

303
00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:04.920
money. I had to number pain
and the nightmares, and I went through

304
00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:11.839
every night with drugs. Robert explains
that he is severely damaged by his experience,

305
00:26:12.279 --> 00:26:15.519
saying, I live every day of
my life with this. It doesn't

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00:26:15.559 --> 00:26:19.799
go away. I never got my
life back, never found peace of mind.

307
00:26:21.480 --> 00:26:26.160
I don't flagellate myself with self pity. There are probably people worse off

308
00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:30.480
than me. I just want my
name cleared. They should have the decency,

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00:26:30.599 --> 00:26:34.039
the humanity, the morality to hold
their hands up. I was fitted

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00:26:34.119 --> 00:26:41.799
up. I want a proclamation of
innocence. Robert has stated that he's never

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00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:45.640
been given an apology from Greater Manchester
Police for what happened to him, and

312
00:26:45.720 --> 00:26:48.160
said he's not even sure if he
would want one now after all this time.

313
00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:52.400
He said, maybe it would mean
everything, maybe it would mean nothing.

314
00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:56.920
I don't know how it would feel
until it happened, but I don't

315
00:26:56.960 --> 00:27:02.880
think they're big enough to apologize after
all this time. Robert has been extremely

316
00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:06.920
open about his struggles after being released
from prison and about his opinions about the

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00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:10.839
changes that need to happen to the
justice system so that this doesn't happen again.

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00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:15.559
He told the Clydebank Post, I'm
angry and dislike the system for what

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00:27:15.640 --> 00:27:19.880
it's done to me and done to
other working class people. I didn't want

320
00:27:19.920 --> 00:27:25.559
money. Money didn't give me justice. It doesn't give my mother her life

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00:27:25.559 --> 00:27:30.440
back. There are a lot of
issues left unresolved. The real killer of

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00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:34.799
Annie Walsh has not been caught.
I'm passionate about getting the system changed.

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00:27:36.759 --> 00:27:40.279
I think it's too late for me
getting help and assistance for the damage done

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00:27:40.279 --> 00:27:44.480
to me. The public are quick
to want to hang somebody without having any

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00:27:44.519 --> 00:27:48.200
real knowledge of the facts or evidence
of the case. If there's no evidence

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00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:52.599
to connect someone to the crime,
then there's no case to answer. The

327
00:27:52.680 --> 00:27:57.359
word of one man or woman is
not enough. I don't do this because

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00:27:57.400 --> 00:28:02.759
I want self pity. I want
changes to the criminal justice system that shows

329
00:28:02.759 --> 00:28:07.920
there's balance and equality for everybody.
We need deep, radical change or you're

330
00:28:07.960 --> 00:28:12.079
going to hear about cases like this
for the next twenty five years. It

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00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:18.359
concerns me people are still getting convicted
on hearsay evidence, character assassinations, and

332
00:28:18.519 --> 00:28:22.559
more. You would think a criminal
justice system would have to be evidence based.

333
00:28:23.480 --> 00:28:29.279
I was convicted on the words of
the police, and juries believe police.

334
00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:32.839
Since I was released in two thousand
and two, there has not been

335
00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:37.440
any improvement in the justice system.
I think police should be held responsible for

336
00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:44.519
their crimes. It's as if police
are a law unto themselves. These comments

337
00:28:44.519 --> 00:28:48.799
will resonate with many people given the
recent headlines about police forces and police officers

338
00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:52.960
in the UK, and while issues
like this exist, there isn't as much

339
00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:59.279
focus on how wrongful convictions happen in
this country. They do happen, and

340
00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:04.759
unfortunately mistakes are made during investigations,
and these investigations have huge ramifications for not

341
00:29:04.799 --> 00:29:11.519
only the person convicted, but on
the victims family. We have to remember

342
00:29:11.559 --> 00:29:15.960
Annie Walsh in this whole story,
as due to the actions of police officers

343
00:29:15.960 --> 00:29:19.759
in this case, she sometimes becomes
almost like a footnote in her own case.

344
00:29:22.839 --> 00:29:26.319
Annie's family now do not know what
happened to her, and they,

345
00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:30.039
like Robert, have suffered their own
trauma of having all of these wounds reopened

346
00:29:30.119 --> 00:29:37.680
once again. There is now no
healing for them. Annie's sister Kathleen met

347
00:29:37.720 --> 00:29:41.880
with Robert after he was released and
said she welcomed the news as it meant

348
00:29:41.880 --> 00:29:45.039
that they could finally find out,
one way or another, who did it.

349
00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:48.920
This was a very forgiving and open
way to look at the situation,

350
00:29:49.279 --> 00:29:53.400
and it's sad that all of Annie's
siblings died without fully knowing what happened to

351
00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:59.640
their sister. Kathleen's son Trevor,
was asked if he thought they would ever

352
00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:03.640
find the culprit. Trevor said no, and that's what my mother thought too.

353
00:30:04.279 --> 00:30:07.960
After so much time passed by,
the chances of finding someone a very

354
00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:12.400
slim. The likelihood of anyone even
wanting to take up the case after this

355
00:30:12.519 --> 00:30:19.680
long is pretty slim. This is
the sad fact in this case. The

356
00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:25.000
actions of the police and the way
in which this case was conducted meant that

357
00:30:25.039 --> 00:30:29.599
the perpetrator was never found and now
may never be given the amount of time

358
00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:34.039
that has passed. They did have
a plausible alternate suspect, and forensics and

359
00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:40.160
eyewitnesses seem to corroborate this. However, what has been done about this since,

360
00:30:40.319 --> 00:30:45.759
or if this suspect is even still
alive is unknown. After Robert had

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00:30:45.799 --> 00:30:49.279
been released, a senior West Yorkshire
Police officer carried out an inquiry into the

362
00:30:49.319 --> 00:30:56.400
way Greater Manchester Police handled the investigation. Then asked GMP about this and whether

363
00:30:56.440 --> 00:31:03.839
they wanted to apologize to Robert Brown. They stated Greater Manchester Police accepts the

364
00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:07.880
Court of Appeals judgment in the case
of Robert Brown. Undetected murder cases are

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00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:14.480
never solved and are periodically reviewed and
reinvestigated when new information comes to lie it.

366
00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:19.880
There are so many things to learn
from this case, and neither Annie

367
00:31:19.880 --> 00:31:25.839
nor Robert have got justice. And
we have to remember this. Annie's murderer

368
00:31:25.880 --> 00:31:29.759
got away with it and Robert lost
over twenty five years of his life and

369
00:31:29.880 --> 00:31:34.279
suffers with the trauma every day.
This case brings up many issues with our

370
00:31:34.319 --> 00:31:38.799
criminal justice system, and in particular
highlights what happens to people when they get

371
00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:44.160
out of prison, regardless of their
innocence or whether they have just served their

372
00:31:44.200 --> 00:31:48.480
time. Is the proper support in
place for people who've spent a while in

373
00:31:48.519 --> 00:31:52.400
prison. Can they properly adapt to
the outside world. Have they been in

374
00:31:52.480 --> 00:31:59.400
any way rehabilitated while in prison.
These are all questions which are brought up

375
00:31:59.400 --> 00:32:02.240
in this case, as well as
whether the conduct of police is properly inspected

376
00:32:02.240 --> 00:32:08.079
and assessed. Robert Brown stated in
a documentary for Real Crime that he was

377
00:32:08.160 --> 00:32:13.960
just anyone and suggests that he could
have been anyone and it could have happened

378
00:32:13.960 --> 00:32:16.920
to anyone and I think this is
the thing that I take away from it.

379
00:32:19.200 --> 00:32:22.519
Wrongful convictions unfortunately did and still do
happen, and while this is not

380
00:32:22.640 --> 00:32:27.880
something often talked about here in the
UK, we must be aware of them

381
00:32:27.960 --> 00:32:31.640
and know our own rights. It
saddens me to think that Annie and her

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00:32:31.680 --> 00:32:37.079
family could have had justice in this
case had it been handled differently, and

383
00:32:37.160 --> 00:32:42.759
the fact we still don't know who
killed her is tragic. If you do

384
00:32:42.839 --> 00:32:47.079
know anything about Annie Walsh's murdering Hume
in nineteen seventy seven, then please contact

385
00:32:47.160 --> 00:32:53.839
police on one oh one. Thank
you for listening to today's episode. If

386
00:32:53.839 --> 00:32:59.039
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the show notes to visit Patreon and
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390
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support us by reviewing the podcast wherever
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just share the episodes. You can
subscribe on YouTube and follow us on social

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media. You can also now subscribe
and listen to my new podcast, ten

393
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Minute True Crime, which tells infamous
crimes in a short form, bite size

394
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395
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that wherever you listen, and in
the show notes, as always, I'm

396
00:33:40.440 --> 00:33:43.799
Caprice and this has been unseen