Wullie Gage Campaign

At last there seems to be some light at the end of the long tunnel that William Gage and his family have endured for the past 7 plus years.

The Scottish Criminal Case Review Commission finally made their decision to refer William Gage's case to the appeal courts. See http://www.sccrc.org.uk/ViewFile.aspx?id=396 for the grounds of referral.

We who support Wullie Gage are delighted that the SCCRC have referred the case for appeal and we thank them for doing so. If it wasn't for the SCCRC investigating this case then Wullie would not have the chance to finally prove his innocence. So far that, family, friends and supporters are deeply grateful.

Sadly though, Mr Bill Gage, William's father, is now terminally ill with cancer. I spoke with Mr Gage Senior and he said that he was absolutely delighted to hear this news. It had been a long time coming. He says he is not afraid of dying. What he fears is dying before William is freed and exonerated for the crime he was wrongfully convicted of. All he wants to be able to do is put his arms around his son and be able to spend time with his son as a free man. We pray that this will be made possible. Mr Gage Senior has suffered enough due to this injustice and now cancer. He has committed no crime. And he has steadfastly stood by Wullie and supported him totally. His belief in his son's innocence is unwaivering.

The tragedy of all of this is that the Gage family have lost precious years due to Wullie being imprisoned for a crime he did not commit and now that the end could be in sight, Mr Gage Senior is so seriously ill. It all seems so unfair indeed.

We who support Wullie's fight for truth and justice are hoping and praying that Wullie is freed so that he can spend precious time with his dad.

It really would be heaping injustice upon injustice if Wullie was not allowed to spend that special time with his dad and his loved ones. We hope that the courts will see fit to show some compassion in this tragic situation. Time is running out and Mr Gage Senior is about to embark on an intense Radiotherapy treatment in a bid to make him feel a little better. It will not cure him but should hopefully make his life a little more bearable. There is no operation which can help and chemotherapy cannot help either. Mr Gage is too ill to have surgery anyway.

It would be absolutely devastating to Mr Gage Snr and the family if Wullie did not get freed before things go too far for him, with the cancer.

It would be equally devastating of course to Wullie, if anything else happened to his dad before he was freed.

Wullie is delighted of course that this has finally happened but there is a deep sadness in him for the time he has lost with his family and the fact that his dad is so ill.

Wullie has a huge amount of supporters and he thanks everyone for their love and support.

Details of Wullie's case can be read on: : Mojoscotland@mac.com : www.whygage.com and http://www.justiceforwilliamgage.webs.com/

It is agony having to wait. I feel like I have been buried alive and that no matter how hard I scream for help the authorities don't seem to care.' William Gage

Hopefully now Wullie will realise that the authorities are indeed listening and that they will rectify this miscarriage of justice in a speedy manner.

Please send Wullie cards of support and encouragement:

William Gage
# 2319 c3/15
HMP Shotts/ Lanarkshire

ML7 4LE
SCOTLAND

Thank you

Karen Torley and Wullie Gage's Supporters.

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. . Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. To remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all..." Elie Wiesel Nobel Prize for Peace in 1986.

Some details of the case

On the night of March 7, 2002 drug baron Justin McAlroy was gunned down on the driveway of his home in Cambuslang, Glasgow.

Second-hand car dealer William Gage was jailed for life in 2004 when three eyewitnesses told a jury they saw a white getaway vehicle leaving the scene.

A white SAAB was later found in Glasgow's Easterhouse, partly burnt out.

Much reliance was placed on a white SAAB being the car used in the commission of this murder.

There was absolutely no evidence, no CCTV Footage and no identification of Gage, which one would expect

Evidence at trial related to a White Maestro, Metro, Volvo 440 and one witness saying the car he saw was "Not a SAAB”

The other differing statements given at trial, shows that at least some witnesses must have given “inaccurate” information.

The judge described the evidence of McAlroy’s wife as uncorroborated and extremely contradictory

The Judge directed that the jury must find Gage guilty of the second charge which relates to the white car, to have enough evidence to convict for the murder. Basically the judge was saying there was no evidence of the murder if the car could not be tied to it.

The jury found him not guilty on the second charge and guilty of Murder.

Not only did the jury not listen to the judge in law issues such as there was no proof, they totally went against all the judges directions.
.
Even the trial judge, Lord Emslie, has expressed doubts over the conviction.

In a report to appeal judges, it is believed, Lord Emslie claimed many juries would have refused to convict with such circumstantial evidence.

Extract from an Appeal.

Extract
Since Stephen Madden had only seen the passenger in the white car from a front view, someone with hair in a pony tail might look like someone with short hair. The assessment of the evidence of Stephen Madden and Agnes Edgar was entirely a matter for the jury. It would not be surprising if the jury decided to pay little or no attention to their evidence,

Stephen maddens evidence was relied upon for conviction, At best his evidence was he saw a White Metro Or Maestro and he did not identify Gage.
Both Madden and Edgar were reluctant witnesses but for a judge to claim it would not be surprising if the jury decided to pay little or no attention to their evidence is shocking.
Is this because their evidence supports Gage's case ?


Extract
Turning to the evidence of Charles Bowman, the Advocate depute submitted that Mr. Bowman's evidence vouched the proposition that the car recovered from Easterhouse was at least similar to the one which Mr. Bowman had seen in Newton Station Road. Contrary to the trial judge's view at page 12 of his report, Mr. Bowman's evidence, if accepted, was consistent with the abandoned Saab being the getaway car.

Mr Bowman claimed to have seen a white Volvo 440 and only after being shown the white SAAB did he say it was similar.
Apart from leading this witness the police tactics in showing him the White SAAB which was recovered from Easterhouse severely taints his evidence.
At its highest his evidence is capable of showing it was a Volvo used and not a SAAB.
Besides this evidence there is the witness Kearns who doesn't seem to have been heard at appeal.
His evidence supports the car not being a white SAAB and his reason for remembering it was not a SAAB was because he had once owned a SAAB and he would have remembered if the car in question had been a white SAAB.
This evidence supports Gage and not as suggested at his appeal the Crown case

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. . Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. To remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all..." Elie Wiesel Nobel Prize for Peace in 1986..

NEWS UPDATE:Case Referred by SCCRC

Wullie Gage's case has finally been referred for appeal by the Scottish Criminal Case Review Commission, today 11 June 2009.

Hoping that finally the truth and justice will prevail and Wullie can be reuninted with his family.

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Doubts of A Judge

Read article by clicking on it.

Conflicting testimony and claims of police pressure revealed in drug baron’s murder

NEW EVIDENCE which calls into question one of Scotland's most notorious murder convictions has been uncovered by a Sunday Herald investigation.

Drug baron Justin McAlroy was gunned down on his driveway in Glasgow's Cambuslang only six days after wining and dining Labour VIPs Jack McConnell and John Reid at a dinner to raise funds for the party in 2002.

Second-hand car dealer William Gage was jailed for life in 2004 when three eyewitnesses told a jury they saw a white getaway vehicle leaving the scene. A similar vehicle was later found in Glasgow's Easterhouse, partly burnt out, with Gage's DNA and firearms residue on clothes left inside.

But the Sunday Herald has discovered that vital evidence - including allegations of police pressure which could have collapsed the trial - was withheld from the jury.

The Miscarriages of Justice Organisation said it would now be making a fresh submission to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission in a bid to get the conviction quashed.

Organiser John McManus said: "We always knew there were very serious doubts hanging over this case. Now it seems there is perhaps something more sinister."

Gage sensationally sacked his legal team in the middle of an appeal hearing. It was too late for his new lawyers to enter fresh arguments.

But it was during that failed appeal last year that the Crown admitted that the evidence of three eyewitnesses - Charles Bowman, Stephen Madden and Agnes Edgar - was crucial to the conviction. Without their testimony there is nothing to link the white Saab and Gage's DNA in Easterhouse to the murder scene in Cambuslang.

At the original trial, Madden and Edgar claimed to have been driving together past a building site near the murder scene when they saw a man running towards the getaway car.

Madden recalled one of the vehicle's headlights was broken and the other on full. The white car then followed them 100 yards to Newton Station railway bridge where both cars stopped to let another pass through the narrow tunnel.

But his testimony is starkly at odds with evidence given by Bowman, the third eyewitness. Bowman - a security guard at the building site - insisted the white car had driven under the bridge at high speed, without stopping and with no headlights on at all.

The differing statements show that at least one of the two parties must have given inaccurate information.

On the night of March 7, 2002, Bowman was the sole guard on duty when the killer struck. Two colleagues had warned that he could not possibly be right - yet their evidence was never put before the jury.

In a defence statement, site foreman Fraser Cathcart said: "I would be very, very surprised if anyone could see very much in Newton Station Road from the window.

"First, you would have to bend over the desk and you could see only the top half of Newton Station Road towards the roundabout and then only a very small part of it anyway.

"You would be able only to see the east side of Newton Station Road."

Bowman claimed the white car was on the west side.

Site joiner James McKinlay - in a defence precognition - also insisted the view was obstructed. But even more damning were his accounts of long lunchtime conversations he had with his friend Bowman.

McKinlay recalled: "Charlie would often talk to me about it ... The gist of what he told me was that, basically, he had seen very little and heard only the screech of tyres. He went to the front window to look but could only see the rear of a motor vehicle.

"He told me that the police were trying to put a bit of pressure' on him to say that what he had seen was a white car but he did say that what he had seen was definitely not a white car that the police had suggested.

"Also, he said that he had had a few cans' that night and that his memory was unsure.

"Charlie had had a number of citations to attend court in relation to the matter and always during such periods the conversation would come back to the case again and what he had seen that night."

Edgar told the court she had been in the passenger seat of Madden's Renault Laguna when she saw the white car and a man running towards it, something she had repeatedly told the police in two statements to detectives.

But away from the murder squad interview room, the 15-year-old had a different story to tell. As far back as August 2002, the troubled youngster was complaining of police intimidation.

In a statement given to Gage's original legal team, Edgar - who was receiving psychiatric counselling at the time of her interview by detectives - insisted: "I cannot recall what type or colour of the car sic.

"I have been interviewed a couple of times by the police ... I was given a hard time by them. I have tried to forget what happened and to put it behind me."

ON the stand, Edgar claimed that the police had tampered with her statement regarding the killer's clothing. She told the court: "I only signed that statement so I could get away because I was in really bad pain and I don't believe that an officer could actually keep a 15-year-old girl in so much pain in an interview room.

"I'm sorry but I don't like to be ... told that I can't have a psychiatrist or a social worker when I need it."

The final piece of evidence casting doubt on Gage's murder conviction relates to Madden's description of the getaway car. The takeaway delivery driver was adamant the getaway vehicle's left headlight was broken, but, according to two separate tests carried out in the days after the murder by three detectives and a specialist Saab mechanic, the headlights were in full working order.

This vital evidence shows that either Madden's testimony was seriously flawed or, if correct, it was a completely different car that was found in Easterhouse. Whichever is the case, Gage's conviction would seem untenable.

McAlroy was murdered six days after a Red Rose Dinner event hosted by his father Tommy, a Labour Party donor in McConnell's Motherwell and Wishaw constituency.

Gage, 34, was arrested two months after the killing and was later jailed for life with a minimum tariff of 20 years.

FREE ME AND I'LL MOVE ABROAD

Oct 21 2005

CONVICTED killer William Gage said he will move abroad if appeal judges set him free today. Gage, 33, has protested his innocence since being sentenced to 20 years for the murder of drug dealer Justin McAlroy in February 2004.

Today, he goes before the High Court in Edinburgh in a bid to clear his name. Speaking from Shotts Prison, he said: 'If they do the right thing and set me free, I intend to move abroad and hopefully never be heard of again.'

A campaign claiming his case was a miscarriage of justice has been gathering momentum.

It is understood even the trial judge, Lord Emslie, has expressed doubts over the conviction.

In a report to appeal judges, it is believed, Lord Emslie claimed many juries would have refused to convict with such circumstantial evidence.

It was claimed Gage shot McAlroy, 28, five times outside his home in Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, over a £50,000 drug debt in March 2002.

Gage said he was beginning to lose hope of being released. He added:'I can't imagine this wrongful imprisonment coming to an end.'

World renowned Professor Valentine calls into question the Verdict in the Gage Case.

Much reliance was placed on a white SAAB being the car used in the commission of this murder.
There was DNA linking Gage to this SAAB but no evidence it left Easterhouse in the East end af Glasgow Travelled to Cambuslang and Back to Easterhouse
When i say no evidence i mean there was absolutely no evidence, No CCTV Footage and no eye sightings which one would expect.
The evidence at Trial taken at it's highest related to at best to a White Maestro, Metro, Volvo 440 and one witness saying the car he saw was "Not A SAAB"

The Judge in this case directed that the Jury must find Gage Guilty of the second charge to have enough evidence to convict for the murder.
The Jury found him not Guilty on the second charge and guilty of Murder.

Absolutely shocking verdict because it shows not only did the jury not listen to the judge in Law issues such as no proof but they totally went against all the judges directions.
The first charge the judge said did not have sufficient evidence he even described the evidence of the Wife as Uncorroborated and Extremely Contradictory.
Basically the judge was saying there was no evidence of the murder if the car could not be tied to it.
The judge was therefore wrong to allow this case to proceed.

No case to answer should have been submitted but despite all this evidence Mr Gage's Solicitor Advocate agrees at his appeal there was a sufficiency of evidence.

No points for Guessing who his advocate was then -------------- Yes the very same one i have complained about for twenty six years now.

Lets hope SCCRC agree with Professor Tim Valentine that the evidence of the wife, after giving five previous statements all of a sudden changes her evidence to describe clothes the police showed her on a Tailors dummy which totally contradict her five previous statements.

Her evidence at best and taken at it's highest was only that Gage had the same eyes, No wonder the judge described it as contradictory and uncorroborated Yet Gage lies in Jail awaiting the outcome of SCCRC investigation to see if he will be able to appeal.