John Morgan was Ram’s solicitor; according to the campaign he had represented Ram in “petty matters” before the murder of Clarke Pearce. I caught up with Morgan just before six o’clock on the evening of March 7, 2001, having tried several times to reach him during the day. He had been in court all day; he is a solicitor-advocate.
Morgan said he was annoyed about the outcome of the case because he had always understood that Ram had been attacked by a “drunken lager lout”. I found this rather surprising and asked Morgan if he accepted what Ram had told him about the incident. He replied that of course he did! He went further than this and said that his instructions had never wavered in view of what Ram had told him.
Morgan agreed that he had represented Ram in “petty matters”. I didn’t ask him what those petty matters were, but my view is that Ram’s previous convictions - whatever they may be - are unimportant except insofar as they refute the claim by his campaigners that he was ignorant of the law. Obviously as he was only 20 years old when he murdered Clarke Pearce he could not have previously been convicted of a very serious crime, certainly not as an adult.
Morgan said he dealt with the case in the magistrates court. When I asked him if he had heard of the Free Satpal Campaign he confused this with the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
He said he was currently liaising with Stephen Linehan QC, who had been asked for his views on the case by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Somewhat surprised by Morgan’s blind faith in his one-time client, I asked him if he’d had read the pathologist’s report. He replied that he assumed I understood something about legal matters, and said this would have been dealt with by Counsel.
Morgan was polite but cut me short because he said he was expecting a client. His secretary, whom I had spoken to earlier, was more forthright about Ram.
I have to say that John Morgan is the sort of man I would much rather have as a friend than as an advocate; he obviously hadn’t a clue about what had really happened in the Sky Blue restaurant in the small hours of November 16, 1986.
March 7, 2001
On doing some routine website maintenance today, I found an incomplete sentence in this short article, namely:
“When I told him that the Ram campaign had suggested that he had l...” At this distance in time I can’t remember what may have followed, and having checked archived versions, it appears this error was made at the time, ie 11 years and more ago now. I spoke to Morgan only the once, and he didn’t sound very bright, even for a lawyer. It looks like the lost text, such as it is/was, is gone forever. My apologies for this, but whatever it was, it can’t have been important, and I am sure the reader will find much on this site that is.
May 16, 2012
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