Decision to release murderer won’t be reviewed
Family Photo
Lynette White was murdered in a flat in Cardiff’s docklands in 1988
The decision to release the man who brutally killed a young woman in a flat in Cardiff will not be reviewed, the Ministry of Justice has said.
Jeffrey Gafoor, 59, is set to leave prison on parole after attempts to change the decision to release him failed.
Gafoor stabbed Lynette White more than 50 times on Valentine’s Day in the city’s docklands in 1988.
The Ministry of Justice said: “After thorough consideration, we have unfortunately found no legal basis for the Lord Chancellor to ask the independent Parole Board to reconsider its decision to release Jeffrey Gafoor.”
Gafoor was granted parole at his sixth parole board hearing in October.
He has been held in an open prison since 2020 and was granted day release in January 2023.
John Actie, one of five men falsely accused of the murder, in one of Britain’s biggest miscarriages of justice, had instructed a solicitor to challenge the decision of the parole board.
He said: “I expected it, it’s not a shock. I’ve done my best. They were going to let him out all along. Nothing shocks me no more.”
Gafoor admitted the murder after advances in DNA technology linked him to the crime in 2003.
He was given a life sentence, but told he would need to serve 13 years before he could be considered for parole. He has now served 21 years in prison.
Lynette White, who was a sex worker, was stabbed more than 50 times in a flat above a bookmakers on 14 February 1988.
The initial investigation into her death lead to one of Britain’s longest ever criminal trials, followed by the wrongful conviction of three men.
Media Wales
Gafoor was sentenced to life in 2003 for the murder of Lynette White in Cardiff in 1988
In 2011, a trial into allegations of police corruption collapsed leading to the acquittal of eight former officers who denied the charges against them.
In 2021, the then Chief Constable of South Wales Police Matt Jukes said that members of the Cardiff Five, the men originally accused of the murder, should be recognised as victims.
A ministry of justice spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Lynette White as they come to terms with this difficult news.”
He added that Gafoor would be subject to strict licence conditions and intense supervision upon release and faces a return to prison if he breaks the rules.
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