Eddie Gilfoyle, who served 18 years in prison for the murder of his heavily pregnant wife Paula, continues to assert his innocence as a new Channel 4 documentary reopens the case. Paula Gilfoyle, eight-and-a-half months pregnant, was found hanged in the garage of their Upton home on June 4, 1992, with a suicide note in the kitchen. Initially treated as suicide, the case was reclassified as murder four days later, leading to Eddie's arrest and subsequent conviction in 1993.
Key Evidence and Allegations
The prosecution argued that Eddie manipulated Paula into writing the suicide note before forcing her to hang herself. However, campaigners and media investigations have highlighted significant issues, including lost evidence and withheld police reports. In 2012, the Crown Prosecution Service released police notes revealing that officers had walked through the crime scene, cut down the body, and destroyed the rope—errors attributed to Merseyside Police's policy of prioritizing the coroner's office at sudden death scenes.
Paula's diary, disclosed to Eddie's lawyers after a 20-year delay, suggested she had previously attempted suicide, contradicting the trial narrative that she was happy and would never take her own life. The charity Appeal noted that understanding of antenatal depression has evolved since 1993, and Paula herself described being at her lowest point during pregnancy.
Failed Appeals and Ongoing Support
The Criminal Cases Review Commission referred the case to the Court of Appeal in 1999, but the conviction was upheld. Subsequent applications in 2003 and 2010 did not result in referrals. Despite this, supporters including former Merseyside Police assistant chief constable Alison Halford and former MP Lord David Hunt have called the conviction a miscarriage of justice. Halford stated, 'Eddie Gilfoyle's life has been ruined. Merseyside Police have lied, and lied, and withheld evidence.' Lord Hunt described it as 'one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British legal history.'
Eddie's late sister, Sue Caddick, said, 'This was a huge cover-up by Merseyside Police... He's damaged beyond repair.' Eddie himself told the media, 'I did not kill Paula, I did not kill my child, and the police know that.'
Family's Perspective
Paula's family maintain Eddie's guilt, believing he orchestrated the murder to keep the house and move in with a girlfriend. Her sister told the ECHO, 'As far as I'm concerned, he's 100% guilty and he'll always be guilty.'
The new Channel 4 documentary, The Accused: Beyond Reasonable Doubt?, airing tonight, features interviews with Gilfoyle, legal experts, and psychologists, exploring whether he has exhausted all avenues to clear his name.
