Skip to main content

Man Executed 70 Years Ago-Police Apologise For His Wrongful Conviction


Mahmood Mattan, a 28 years old British Somali, a former merchant seaman and a father of three, was wrongfully convicted and hanged in September 1952.

Mahmood Mattan was found guilty of killing Lily Volpert in her Cardiff clothes store. He protested his innocence to the end.

Mattan, a former seaman who was originally from Hargeisa in what was then known as British Somaliland, was arrested within hours of Volpert’s murder.

He was charged and convicted by an all-white jury in a three-day trial in Swansea.

This was despite there being no forensic evidence and Mattan having his alibi backed up by witnesses.

However, in 1998 after tireless campaigning by his family, his conviction was the first Criminal Case Review Commission referral to be quashed at the court of appeal.

Mahmood Mattan's family has been given a police apology for the “terrible suffering” the miscarriage of justice caused, 70 years after he was executed in a British prison after his erroneous conviction of murder.

Jeremy Vaughan, chief constable of South Wales police, said: “This is a case very much of its time – racism, bias and prejudice would have been prevalent throughout society, including the criminal justice system.

“There is no doubt that Mahmood Mattan was the victim of a miscarriage of justice as a result of a flawed prosecution, of which policing was clearly a part.”

Detectives from Cardiff city police, now part of South Wales police, investigated the killing of Volpert, 41, whose throat had been slit at the shop in the docks area in March 1952.

Vaughan said that while the investigation “pre-dates the formation of South Wales police”, he added: “It is right and proper that an apology is made on behalf of policing for what went so badly wrong in this case 70 years ago and for the terrible suffering of Mr Mattan’s family and all those affected by this tragedy for many years.

“Even to this day, we are still working hard to ensure that racism and prejudice are eradicated from society and policing.”
Mattan’s wife, Laura, and their three sons David, Omar and Mervyn, also known as Eddie, campaigned for 46 years for his name to be cleared but have all since died.

Tanya Mattan, a granddaughter of Mattan, told the BBC the apology was “far too late for the people directly affected as they are no longer with us and still, we are yet to hear the words I am/we are sorry.”

In 2001 the Mattan family received compensation from the Home Office but had not received an apology from the police until now.




Comments

  1. 70 yrs after if this was in Africa d case file will be no where to be found

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Type your comments here

Popular posts from this blog

GIST!

DJ Cuppy wants a special birthday gift from Elon Musk, who recently acquired Twitter.  A message to the World's richest man, Elon Musk from Nigerian disc jockey and music producer, Florence Ifeoluwa Otedola, professionally known as DJ Cuppy, or simply Cuppy below; Cuppy @cuppymusic · Follow It’s my 30th birthday soon! 11/11 So @ElonMusk can you pretty please gift me one free month ($7.99) of #TwitterBlue ??? After this, I promise to keep up with payments forever and ever and everrrrrrrr #CuppyDat 10:06 PM · Nov 9, 2022 14K Reply Share

NLC To Embark On A Strike Action If....

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), national president, Comrade Joe Ajaero, during the African Trade Union Alliance meeting in Abuja. Has issued a threat to embark on a nationwide strike without any notification if the pump price of fuel sells above the current price of N617. Media reports indicated an imminent increase in the price to N720. The NNPC Limited has not made any official announcement of a fuel price increment According to Ajaero, there were purported plans to further increase the pump price of petrol, which he expressed dismay that the development will cause additional and untold hardship on Nigerians. He said: “As we are here now, they are contemplating increasing the pump price of petroleum products, and the ministry of labour for some time now would only go to the Ministry of Justice to come up with a so-called injunction to hold the hands of Labour not to respond. But let me say this, Nigerian workers will not give any notice if we have not addressed the consequences of...

Professor Isa Odidi-A True Trailblazer

You cannot help but recognise the genius in Professor Isa Odidi. Thus, Professor Odidi, was conferred a honorary doctorate degree; a Doctor of Science (D.Sc) by the University of Benin in Edo State, Nigeria, West Africa. Excellence does speak and indeed just like the proverbial saying, a lit candle cannot be put under a bushel, but on a candlestick. It's light cannot be hidden. It will shine through, it will lit up everything and everyone around it and those that come in contact with it. Such is the prolific nature of Professor Isa Odidi, a trailblazer, with yet a meek persona.  Professor Odidi's years of hard work and dedication towards making the world a better place via Pharmaceutics, Research and Development, Innovation and Invention, was honoured. Please read below Professor Isa Odidi's citation: UNIVERSITY OF BENIN, BENIN CITY, NIGERIA CITATION 38TH CONVOCATION CEREMONY CONFERMENT OF DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF SCIENCE (D.SC) (HONORIS CAUSA) OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BENIN, BENIN ...