Murder of Maxwell Confait
The fire was extinguished by 1:31 a.m. and the police arrived at 1:45 a.m., followed by a forensic pathologist at 2:00 a.m.[4] The body was that of the lodger Confait, known to friends as Michelle and legally as Maxwell.
The police surgeon had not measured the body's rectal temperature to establish the time of death, because the senior policeman had noted that Confait was a "possible homosexual" and he did not wish to destroy any evidence of recent sexual activity.
[9] Two days after the discovery of Confait's body, on 24 April 1972, there were a number of other fires in the area, including alongside the railway line near Catford Bridge station, in a small sports hut on Ladywell Fields, and at a derelict house in the next street, 1 Nelgarde Road.
[5] All three of the boys were questioned without any other adult being present, despite the law stipulating that "As far as practicable, children (whether suspected of a crime or not) should only be interviewed in the presence of a parent or guardian, or, in their absence, some person who is not a police officer and is of the same sex as the child.
[10][1] After a preliminary hearing at Woolwich Magistrates' Court, Lattimore and Leighton were sent back to Ashford Remand Centre on charges of murder.
[10] In court, the pathologist, Professor James Cameron, changed his opinion concerning the time of death, saying it could have been as late as 1:00 a.m. and that the heat of the fire could have sped up the onset of rigor mortis.
[10] On 24 November 1972, the jury found Colin Lattimore guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and two counts of arson for the fires at Doggett Road and Ladywell Fields.
[9] Ronnie Leighton was found guilty of murder, of arson at Doggett Road and Ladywell Fields, and of a burglary at a nearby address.
[9] Ahmet Salih was found guilty of burglary and arson and was sent to the Royal Philanthropic School in Redhill for a four-year sentence due to his age.
[9][1] Colin Lattimore's father, insistent that his son was innocent, wrote many letters, including to the Queen, Prime Minister and Home Secretary.
[9] The general election in February 1974 brought Roy Jenkins and Alex Lyon, both of whom were committed to reviewing miscarriages of justice, into the Home Office.
[citation needed] The National Council for Civil Liberties had also become interested in the case and contacted one of the leading pathologists in the country, Professor Donald Teare.
His primary mission was to make recommendations about the Judges' Rules stipulating how police should treat suspects, particularly children and "the educationally subnormal", which were found to be palpably in need of review.
[2] Fisher accepted the chairmanship on condition that he should also be free to find any individual guilty of the crime on "the balance of probabilities", which is the civil standard of legal proof in the UK.
[1] Because this statement was potentially libellous, the report was, exceptionally, published as a "Return to the House of Commons", which made it immune from litigation in the courts of justice.
Two eminent forensic pathologists, Professors Alan Usher and Keith Mant, confirmed this conclusion, stressing that the discoloration of the organs of the body at the post-mortem indicated 72 hours had passed since death.
[citation needed] George and Ellison's report also noted that it was likely that Douglas Franklin "would have emerged at an early stage as a major suspect" if the three youths had not been arrested and police assumed they were guilty.
