One of the people the Free Satpal Campaign have quoted in their propaganda is Ram’s current lawyer, Gareth Peirce, to whom the following words have been attributed:
“This is a forgotten case, it is a litany of mistakes, of things not done, of evidence not pursued.”
I wrote to Gareth Peirce in September 2000, and when I had received no answer after a month I phoned her office. I managed finally to speak to her on October 30. She apologised for not getting back to me, saying she’d been out of the office on a lengthy appeal. She confirmed that she had indeed made the quote attributed to her, and that the knife Ram used on his victim was never recovered. She confirmed also that Ram had previous convictions, although she would say only that they were very minor and unrelated.
Obviously as a solicitor she has a duty of confidentiality to her client and could not give out any meaningful information about either him or the case without his written consent. (I have written to Ram on two occasions but have not received a reply). Peirce did say though that Ram was advised not to give evidence for reasons unrelated to his previous convictions.
Much to my surprise, she said too that Draycott had indeed misread the pathologist’s report, that only two cuts were identifiably knife wounds, and that the rest were caused by broken glass. This left me wondering if the pathologist had also misread the pathologist’s report, because he gave evidence at the trial.
Peirce said that new witness statements – not yet in the public domain – had been referred to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
In spite of this positive appraisal of her client’s hopeless position, I found her attitude to be far more realistic than Ram’s campaigners. When I asked her if it was true that he had been transferred some sixty times during his sentence she laughed and said words to the effect that, yes, isn’t it terrible?
Obviously Peirce has no illusions about her client, but as a solicitor she is obliged to follow his instructions – however bizarre they may be – as long as she is paid, subject only to legal protocol.
March 6, 2001