Jeffery Gafoor, who killed a young woman in Cardiff in 1988 before multiple miscarriages of justice took place, will be released from prison on licence after serving 21 years. Gafoor, 59, stabbed Lynette White more than 50 times and slit her throat on Valentine’s Day 1988, but was not jailed until 2003. Five men were then falsely accused of the murder, and three of them were convicted before being released by the Court of Appeal.
In a private hearing, Gafoor’s sixth, the Parole Board concluded that the risk he posed could be safely managed in the community – although it indicated that he will not be released immediately. The Parole Board advised that a request can be made within 21 days for the decision to release him to be considered again. It indicated that Gafoor would remain in jail until a decision had been made on an application for reconsideration.
Stephen Miller, Yusef Abdullahi, and Tony Paris were wrongly imprisoned for life for stabbing the 20-year-old to death before being released in 1992. Gafoor admitted the murder in 2003 after advances in DNA technology linked him to the crime and was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 13 years. He was denied parole on five previous occasions.
After Ms White’s murder, detectives investigating the case said they were hunting a white suspect, but later arrested five black and mixed-race men. A trial into allegations of police corruption collapsed in 2011, after files relating to complaints by an original defendant were said to have been destroyed. Eight former officers who denied the charges against them were acquitted. In 2021, the then chief constable of South Wales Police Matt Jukes said members of the Cardiff Five – as the men originally accused of the murder became known – should be recognised as victims
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