Justin Plummer, who spent 28 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, has given his first TV interview, explaining why he refused to admit to a crime he did not do, even though it might have led to earlier release.
Speaking to actor and TV host Will Mellor for the new series Convictions Gone Bad on Crime+Investigation, Plummer described the emotional toll of his decades-long fight for justice.
A Fight for Justice
“It was very stressful, it made me feel suicidal many times and I just dealt with it the best I could,” Plummer said. “It’s almost like you’re curled up in a ball and you just can’t do anything about it. What can I do apart from keep fighting, keep going and try not to think about it.”
Mellor said of meeting Plummer: “He was a bit twitchy, a bit nervous. My heart broke for him. I wanted to give him a hug. How do you fix 28 years of somebody's life you’ve wrongly taken away? Justin didn’t get to go to his parents' funerals.”
Mellor also revealed that Plummer had slept on the floor of his cell for 28 years in protest against his imprisonment. “I couldn't believe he’d slept on the floor of his cell for 28 years in protest against his imprisonment,” Mellor said. “I said, ‘Was there ever a point where you just thought, I'll just tell them I've done it, and I'll get out? Because they say if you plead guilty, you're free'. He spent an extra eight years in prison because he refused to say he was.”
The Murder and Conviction
Plummer was jailed for the murder of 38-year-old Janice Cartwright-Gilbert in 1998. She was attacked while alone at a remote Bedfordshire site where she and her partner were building their new home. She suffered a broken nose after being stamped on before being repeatedly stabbed, including through the heart, lungs and neck.
A knife and pair of scissors were left embedded in her body and an electrical flex was tied around her neck before the caravan she was living in was set alight. Prosecutors claimed prolific local burglar Plummer had gone to the property to steal and murdered Janice after she disturbed him.
A key part of the case against him was footwear evidence which prosecutors said linked one of his trainers to marks found on Janice's face. But Plummer always insisted he was not her killer and after being convicted of her murder in 1998, he spent the next 28 years fighting to prove it.
Shock and Devastation
Describing the moment he was found guilty, Plummer said: “It’s like when something really bad happens to you and you get that cold feeling inside. I had that and then I went downstairs and I puked up. I was in shock. Devastated, gutted. You can’t imagine what prison is like.”
He added: “Firstly, you have no control over your life. That’s a big issue for many people who go in. You have to adapt to the situation you’re in and anyone who says you don’t, they’re lying.”
Mellor admitted there were fears whether Plummer would even show up for the interview. “Before I sat down with him, we thought he may not even turn up. He's so nervous about who he can trust. We really wanted to sit down with him because I thought it was important that we got the words directly from him. Not just what I feel about it, but how he feels. But we didn't want to force the issue because he's been through enough, so we just let him talk.”
Quashed Conviction and Freedom
In 2021 his conviction was quashed, but in June 2023 the Crown Prosecution Service put him on trial again based on hearsay evidence from a police informant who claimed Plummer had confessed to the killing. Asked how he felt, Plummer explained: “Dead inside, completely wounded. I’d just been through the trial once and then they were coming at me again, do they want as many bites of the apple as they can get? I don’t think that was justice. I can’t see no light, I’m just in the dark all the way.”
In July 2025 the Court of Appeal quashed the second conviction and Plummer was freed. Now 54, Plummer has no one, both his parents are dead and he’s been robbed of 28 years for a murder he didn’t commit. But he says he laughed when he finally walked free and remembers the moment he knew he’d escaped his nightmare.
“I see my son. That was lovely, a massive moment,” he said. “I was outside the train station and he came up behind me and grabbed me. Once I realised it was him, it was really nice. I didn’t want to let go.”
Broader Implications
For Mellor, Plummer's case raises a disturbing question: every time police and prosecutors put the wrong person behind bars, the person who actually committed the crime may remain free. In some of the cases Mellor investigated, he said that had devastating consequences.
“With this series, I just don't understand how you sleep at night when you know you put innocent people in prison,” Mellor said. “And I believe in some of these cases, they knew they were wrong but they didn't have another suspect. I think there's pressure involved, pressure on the police. They're given a timescale, they don’t have resources, so maybe we need more funding for the police, who knows? But the big problem is when you get it wrong, it means you've got the wrong person in prison, but also the real criminal still on the streets. In some of the cases we cover in this series, their mistake means a murderer and a rapist remained on the streets while innocent men were behind bars. That is so wrong.”
Mellor said that justice cannot simply end with opening the door. “That's why it's important that we need justice, not just for Justin but for the rest of these people. I'd like to see Justin helped put back on his feet, and helped back into the community. And I'm hoping this series gives him some confidence to start trusting people again.”
Convictions Gone Bad with Will Mellor airs on Crime+Investigation October 5 at 9pm.
