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| Abuse Inquiry ‘may Solve Murder"
By Rachel Millard
The Argus
April 20, 2015
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/12899521.Abuse_inquiry____may_solve_murder/
An inquiry into abuse at a boys’ home may provide clues to crack a 35-year-old unsolved murder, the man originally convicted of the killing has said.
Colin Wallace, who spent nearly six years in prison following the death of Brighton antiques dealer Jonathan Lewis, told The Argus questions remain unanswered over the 1980 mystery.
The now 72-year-old, who was cleared on appeal in 1996, was an Army intelligence office working in Northern Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s.
As well as working on secretive black propaganda missions at the height of the Troubles, Mr Wallace also blew the whistle on abuse at the notorious Kincora boys’ home in Belfast. Following his release from prison, investigative journalist Paul Foot suggested he may have been framed over the death in order to keep him quiet over his top secret work in Northern Ireland and what he knew about Kincora. An inquiry into abuse at the home is ongoing in Northern Ireland, and, speaking to The Argus from his home in Arundel, Mr Wallace said it may yet spark revelations about the Lewis case.
He said: “The whole thing, in my own mind, I link the two up but in reality I have to keep the two separate. The danger is I cannot prove anything.
“There are huge questions raised as you know from the evidence. There was clearly evidence that was rigged. I think there should have been an inquiry and someone should have been prosecuted over it.
“Well it could [still happen] and I think it depends what we learn from this inquiry because it may well be that something comes from the Kincora inquiry.”
Mr Wallace was charged with murder in September 1980 after Mr Lewis’s body was found in the River Arun.
He had developed a close relationship with Mr Lewis’s wife, Jane, which was presented to jurors as a motive for the killing.
Evidence presented to his trial at Lewes Crown Court was inconsistent and the judge eventually directed jurors to consider a manslaughter verdict.
Mr Wallace was convicted but has always denied killing his friend and was cleared on appeal in 1996.
The detective overseeing the murder case, Gordon Harrison, was later among the team from Sussex Police who investigated the Royal Ulster Constabulary’s handling of the Kincora investigation.
Mr Wallace agreed justice had not been done for Mr Lewis, adding: “It was very sad, he was a great character and I think everybody involved in it, all the families, had a particularly bad time.
“The trouble is with the passage of time it becomes very difficult now to go anywhere and you could perhaps stir it up but unless you have got a good chance of it working, you create a lot of stress and emotion which goes nowhere.
“I still think it will be interesting to see what comes out from the Kincora investigation because the other side of me believes there are definitely links, but until we can get evidence to stand that up it is silly trying to make that accusation.”
“Once the Kincora inquiry is dealt with properly it may well throw up [other things].”
Sentenced to jail for a crime he didn't commit
Colin Wallace had been working as an intelligence officer for the Army in Northern Ireland before his dismissal in controversial circumstances for leaking information to the press.
He took a new job as a communications officer for Arun District Council and with his wife, Eileen, moved to Arundel for what should have been a somewhat quieter life.
While working on the council team’s progression on the popular game show It’s a Knockout, he formed a close relationship with his assistant, Jane Lewis.
That relationship would ultimately be deemed a motive for murder after her husband, Jonathan Lewis, was found dead in the River Arun on August 8, 1980.
Convicted of manslaughter, it would be nearly six years before Mr Wallace was released on parole and not until 1996 that his name was finally cleared after his conviction was quashed at the appeals court.
“I think it is easier now,” he said. “For years it was not easy, particularly being locked up, if you spend time in prison for something you did not do.
“I got through it okay, I was very lucky, I was very well treated by everybody in prison.”
The first post-mortem on Mr Lewis’s body, found in the River Arun after he failed to turn up to a surprise party thrown by Mr Wallace for Mrs Lewis, led police to conclude there was no foul play.
But it soon became a murder enquiry. Mrs Lewis was spoken to again by police, focusing on the details of her relationship with Mr Wallace.
He then admitted to police he had met Mr Lewis on the night of his death to talk about Jane, changing his first account that he had not seen him.
Mr Wallace said he had not told the truth at first because he did not want to embarrass Jane.
“It is easy to see in hindsight how wrong I had been to tell a false story at the beginning and how much damage it did me,” he is quoted as later saying. “But at the time it did not seem like that.”
After a second autopsy of Mr Lewis’s body found head injuries, Mr Wallace was charged with murder.
His trial began at Lewes Crown Court on March 3, 1981, and lasted three weeks. Forensic evidence for the prosecution, such as blood supposedly in his car, was repeatedly shown up. Sightings of his “It’s a Knockout” car proved equally inconsistent. A barwoman said she had seen Mr Lewis with somebody other than Mr Wallace on the evening of his death.
Strange things happened outside of court, too. Photos appeared in the press of Mr Wallace wearing SAS gear, forcing his lawyers to abandon their strategy, agreed with the prosecution, of not mentioning Mr Wallace’s military background.
They had been taken since Mr Wallace moved to Arundel by an ad agency.
After a trial riddled with inconsistencies, the judge, Mr Justice Kilner Brown, directed the jury to find Mr Wallace not guilty of murder, concluding there was no evidence of any intent to kill.
But he said they could consider a verdict of manslaughter. Mr Wallace was convicted, and sentenced to ten years.
He said: “I always thought prison was such a completely pointless exercise, it is just negative.
“I think the other thing is, if you are sitting in there for something you did not do – I have got two choices, I can either sit there and get very upset or I can work very hard, get busy, get the time done and make best use of the time, which is what I did.”
He was first sent to Wormwood Scrubs, before being moved to Lewes. He said he has “parked” the experience mentally and now recalls some “funny” moments.
“There were some really old huts at the back of our workshop that were being demolished and they were preparing for the huts to be taken down.
“There was a low building so they said to me can you take down that TV aerial on the roof.
“So there I was on the roof trying to take this aerial down, and suddenly realised what it looked like – this prisoner on the roof. So there are some funny things to look back on.”
While making double-glazing for the Home Office as part of a prison workshop he was told police wanted to talk to him about concerns he had raised regarding Kincora boys’ home in Belfast.
Years earlier he tried to draw attention to allegations of sexual abuse at the home, and in 1980 three men had been convicted.
He is still pushing authorities to get to the bottom of what happened and who knew what about it, with an inquiry in Northern Ireland ongoing.
Allegations persist that authorities turned a blind eye to abuse for blackmail purposes at the height of the Troubles.
Released on parole in December 1986, Mr Wallace met with the investigative journalist Paul Foot, leading to the 1989 book Who Framed Colin Wallace?
In 1996, his conviction was ruled unsafe by Lord Bingham, the Lord Chief Justice, and two other judges.
At an appeal hearing two pathologists said the medical evidence was not consistent with a karate blow Mr Wallace supposedly used to knock out Mr Lewis.
Lord Bingham added that Mr Wallace’s initial dishonesty in the story he first gave police counted against him, but was not enough to convict him.
If the conviction was to be upheld on the basis of his dishonesty alone, he said: “We must be able confidently to exclude the reasonable possibility of any innocent explanation for his conduct. We feel unable to do so.”
timeline
June 6, 1943: Born in Randalstown, Northern Ireland
September 27, 1961: Commissioned into Territorial Army Volunteer Reserve
May 1, 1968: Appointed assistant command public relations officer, Army HQ, Northern Ireland
March 2, 1970: Promoted to information officer
January 30, 1972: Bloody Sunday killings by British soldiers of unarmed civilians during protest march
August 1973: Colin Wallace tries to flag up allegations of abuse at Kincora boys’ home to journalists
November 1974: Writes memorandum complaining about lack of police action on Kincora
December 1974: Told to leave Northern Ireland because “life is in danger”
December 1975: Sent notice of dismissal from the Army
January 1980: Kincora story exposed in Irish Independent
August 1980: Body of Jonathan Lewis, pictured above, found in River Arun
December 1980: Three men jailed for sexually assaulting boys at Kincora
March 1981: Colin Wallace convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to ten years in jail
December 1982: Colin Wallace transferred to Lewes prison
October 1983: Findings of Sir George Terry’s report into Kincora published
February 1986: Released on parole
1989: Publication of Who Framed Colin Wallace?
October 1996: Appeals court quashes conviction
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