MEDIA payments to witnesses in the trial of Rosemary West, who was convicted of murdering to young women, could have "put justice at risk" despite the overwhelming evidence against her, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Taylor, ruled yesterday.
In his judgment outlining the Court of Appeal's reasons for refusing to grant West (41) leave to appeal, Lord Taylor stressed the media payments did not render her convictions unsafe but called for a review of the issue.
Lord Taylor pointed out that one witness, who was paid £30,000 for her story, was suddenly taken ill while giving evidence, forcing the trial to be adjourned for several days.
"Had she not been fit to return to the witness box when she was able to be cross examined about the payments, the jury may well have been misled and the verdicts possibly put at risk," he said.
Although Lord Taylor acknowledged that the Attorney General, Sir Nicholas Lyell, had been warned about the media payments to witnesses a year before Mrs West's trial began, he called for a review of the whole issue.
"In our view, the whole issue of media payments to witnesses requires to be reviewed, whether they should be prohibited or, if allowed, at what stage of criminal proceedings and with what, if any, control. It is not for us to answer those questions," he said.
West's barristers had argued that she did not receive a fair trial because of the sensational media coverage and insufficient evidence. She was convicted of murdering to young women, including her 16 year old daughter, Heather, and eight year old step daughter, Charmaine, at her home in Cromwell Street, Gloucester.
Lord Taylor said he "fully understood" why the jury had rejected Mrs West's claims of innocence. "At the heart of this case was the incontrovertible evidence of the bodies buried at 25 Cromwell Street, of the sadistic sexual abuse they had suffered in life and of the fact that Mrs West and her husband lived in the house together throughout that period," he ruled.