The moment John Actie accused of Lynette White murder meets Angela Gallop who proved his innocence
Cold Case Forensics: The Murder of Lynette White is available to watch on ITVX.
A man who was wrongly accused of a brutal murder over 35 years ago has met for the first time the forensic expert who helped prove his innocence.
John Actie was one of the so-called "Cardiff Five" who was wrongly accused of murdering Lynette White in a flat in Butetown, Cardiff in 1988.
World-leading forensic scientist Dr Angela Gallop led the team that reinvestigated the case - and almost a decade later, helped exonerate the Cardiff Five for good.
In a career spanning almost 50 years, Dr Angela Gallop’s meeting with John Actie is the first time she has had the opportunity to meet someone proven innocent by her work.
Police officers had issued an e-fit of a white man as the main suspect following Lynette's murder.
But it was five black men who were later arrested and accused of the killing: Stephen Miller, John Actie, Ronnie Actie, Tony Paris and Yusef Abdullahi.
It became one of them most notorious miscarriages of justice in British legal history.
John Actie spent two years in custody before being acquitted, while Tony Paris, Yusef Abdullahi and Stephen Miller were found guilty and spent further time in prison before the Court of Appeal overturned their convictions.
John Actie said he is grateful to Dr Angela Gallop for her forensic analysis and for finding Lynette's real killer – a security guard named Jeffrey Gafoor.
“If it wasn’t for Angela and her team, he wouldn’t be in jail," John told ITV Wales.
"Because the DNA, without them sorting it out, he might still be on the road, he’d still be out there.
“The day they said that they got Gafoor, I was so happy. I was like, ‘I told you so.’”
Speaking of the moment they met, Dr Gallop described it as "amazing".
"That was the most amazing moment because we don't normally meet people themselves involved in the crimes that we've been investigating so that was quite a moment for me"
"It was amazing because.. I found him such a thoughtful and very calm man.
"I thought he might still be very angry about what happened and who could've blamed him? But actually he was very calm. It was very good to meet him and to see first-hand the difference that forensic science can make to someone's life."
Advances in forensic science and technology allowed the team to build a DNA profile of an unknown male at the scene of the crime.
Through a familial DNA search, detectives were able to narrow down the suspect to Gafoor's family.
Gafoor eventually provided a DNA sample, which was a perfect match with the DNA at the crime scene.
“It just highlights the miscarriage of justice, what happened to us. The DNA, we’re so grateful, and we’re so grateful for the South Wales Police for reinvestigating it.”
Dr Angela Gallop asked John Actie whether he had bad memories of his time in custody and on trial, despite now being proven innocent: “It’s a life sentence in a way,” Gallop said.
“I have very bad memories, sitting in my flat, thinking about it, 'Why me?' Being back in that moment,” John Actie said.“Sometimes I’ve got to keep my telly on in the night, because if the telly goes off and I wake up, I think I’m a cell.”“I really feel vindicated now and everything is a lot better.”Dr Gallop said: “It’s doubly satisfying when you can find and provide the evidence which leaves you in no doubt of the guilt of someone and at the same time exonerate other people who have previously been convicted of the crime.
“The Lynette White case was the first time that has ever happened, and so it made legal history to that extent.
"It made forensic science history because it’s the first time that someone was convicted on the basis of a familial search of the National DNA database, and it has also led to the routine recording of interviews with suspects in serious cases.”
Catch up on Cold Case Forensics: The Murder of Lynette White on ITVX.