Ahmet Salih

Colin Lattimore, Robbie Leighton, and Ahmet Salih were convicted of the murder of Maxwell Confait. They came to the attention of the police after being connected to a series of small fires in the area of the murder. All thee falsely confessed and signed false confessions after hours of police interrogation without legal representation or advice. Two of the men were illiterate and of very low intelligence and the third spoke English as a second language. On appeal, new forensic evidence was introduced relating to time of death that challenged the time of death evidence given at trial, and alibi evidence suggested the boys could not have committed the murder at that time. The Court of Appeal quashed all charges. The case was important in bringing about the 1984 Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) which safeguards suspects during police interviews.

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