Phillip Saunders

As small business owner Phillip Saunders made his way through the Cardiff city centre traffic, it was dark and the air was still damp. Monday October 12th 1987 had been a typically overcast day in the Welsh capital and rain had continued off and on since the early hours. The 52 year old just had one more job to do before he could call it a night. As he did every evening at 9.30pm, he called at the kiosk he owned near the Cardiff Central bus station, to collect the day's takings. Phillip Saunders owned three such kiosks across the city centre, which sold newspapers, sweets and cigarettes. After bagging up the money, which totalled £500 (the equivalent of over £1500 today), he made his way to the Albert Pub on nearby St Mary’s Street to have a swift pint before going home. 

Phillip left the establishment at 11pm and drove the short distance of 3km to his home on Anstee Court in Canton. He parked the car outside the house and entered the garden. Phillip never made it to his front door. At 11.19pm a neighbour heard a noise, which they described as sounding like a body hitting the ground, and called the police. 

The police and emergency services arrived and found Phillip unconscious and severely injured. A blood-stained garden implement, thought to be the murder weapon, was lying on the ground near Phillip. This was later reported to be a shovel. Early news reports circulating that night said a recently opened bottle of whiskey was found nearby  looking like a few mouthfuls of the liquor had been taken from it. They also reported that no money was found on Phillip Saunders, but a £10 note and £1 coin were retrieved from a search of the garden. The police have never confirmed if these news reports were true.

Phillip was taken to the University Hospital of Wales in Heath, Cardiff. Desperate efforts were made to save his life but there was nothing medical staff could do. Phillip never regained consciousness and five days later his life support machine was turned off. Phillip died on Sunday 17th December. A pathology report determined that Phillip had been struck in the head five times and his skull had shattered. 

Hi it's John, here.

Firstly I just wanted to say thank you to all the people who have taken time out to write a review for Persons Unknown. I'm always very appreciative of the time taken to do this. If you haven’t done one yet and you enjoy the podcast please consider leaving a review as they really make a difference. Another way to help support the podcast is to recommend Persons Unknown in social media groups or share it on social media.

Secondly I have an update on the unsolved murder of Lily Volpert, which I covered in episode 27. On Saturday September 3rd 2022  police gave an apology to the family of Mahmood Mattan who was wrongly convicted and executed 70 years ago for the murder of Lily Volpert. The 41 year old was murdered in her shop in Butewon, Cardff in March 1952. Mattan’s conviction was quashed in 1998 by the court of appeal. The family have been waiting for the apology for decades. Unfortunately Mattan’s wife and children have all passed away. Taya Mattan, a grandchild of Mahmood Mattan told the BBC that the apology is far too little too late and that the family still haven't heard the words we are sorry.

Now we’ll get back to this week's episode

Following his death, no tributes or obituaries were published in the local newspapers honouring Phillip. He was a quiet, introverted man. Wales Online describes him as being a bachelor who lived an isolated life. But this is not altogether true. Phillip had siblings and nephews who loved him dearly; he was popular amongst colleagues who knew him by his nickname “Icky”. Everyone in Phillip’s life was in utter shock that something like this could happen to a nice, down-to-earth bloke like him. 

A violent crime, displaying this kind of barbarism was not a common occurrence in Cardiff. Don Carsley of South Wales police said it was the most brutal and savage attack he had ever encountered. South Wales police began a murder investigation, working under the assumption that Phllip’s death had been the result of a robbery gone wrong. The businessman had clearly been specifically targeted by a person or persons who had planned this attack and knew his routine. 

It was soon discovered that Phillip had undergone a similar attack two years previously. I can't find details of the incident so I don't know how much was stolen from him or the level of violence used on that occasion. A colleague said that Phillip had complained of an attempted break-in at his house a week before the fatal attack that ended his life. Apparently that had been the second such attempt in the course of a month. The police had to work out whether these separate incidents were connected. 

Fifty detectives were put on the case and extensive door to door enquiries were carried out in the Canton area of the city. This number was bolstered by a further 25 detectives in the coming weeks. As well as the enquiries in the community, much time and effort was put into the forensic analysis of the suspected murder weapon. DNA analysis was then still in its infancy. Only 12 months previously, in 1986, DNA evidence was used for the first time in a British criminal case to convict double child killer, Colin Pitchfork. 

A reconstruction was carried out of Phillip’s last known movements and the subsequent appeals for information brought forth two people who were on Anstee Court on the evening in question. The two witnesses were said to be a couple who were “cuddling” in a car parked on the street. They had been there at the time Phillip had been attacked but said they saw and heard nothing. This implied the person responsible had planned all aspects of the attack, including an escape route.

A vague description was given of the person said to have committed the attack. The suspect was a white male, with a slim build. He was 178cm, or 5ft 10, with a full head of dark curly hair.  

Over the few weeks of the investigation 42 people were questioned. I believe there were some arrests but no concrete leads were found. As a result detectives decided to widen the net and attempted to bring in anyone with a criminal record living in or near the centre of the city to be interviewed. This included three men from the Ely area in the west of Cardiff, who witnesses put in the city centre on the night of October 12th. 

On November 1st police went to make these arrests. They found two of the men at a property in the Grangetown district of the city. They rang the doorbell, waited a second and then promptly smashed down the door and entered the house. A woman came running into the hall and asked them why they had done that, as she was on her way to answer the door. A police officer replied “We can do what we want”.

The men were 19 year old Michael O'Brien, his brother-in-law, 18 year old Ellis Sherwood, and Ellis’s friend, 19 year old Darren Hall. Darren was not close to the other men and in fact didn't know them well at all. The three had all been out on the night of October 12th in order to steal a car. Michael, who was training as a painter and decorator, was an underweight teenager with glasses and had often been poked fun of and bullied. For him, getting involved in stealing cars was a way of fitting in and being one of the lads. He didn't yet have a criminal record but the other two young men did have records for minor offences. 

Michael, fearing that their real purpose for being in the city centre would be discovered, lied about his whereabouts and the route the men took on the night in question. He figured it wouldn't do any harm as the police would soon realise they had nothing to do with the attack on Phillip Saunders. I'm not entirely sure of the specifics of what Ellis said but it was along the same lines as Michael. Darren Hall, however, disclosed a very different version of what the three young men did on that fateful evening.

The teenager changed his alibi four times. First he said that he and the other two men had been drinking in a pub in the Grangetown district of the city. He then said it had been a pub in Canton and then an establishment in Splott. Finally he said he had been at Cardiff Central bus station all evening. I'm not sure what he said he was doing there all that time. After more questioning Darren then made a confession.

Darren’s confession went through fourteen different permutations before he eventually pointed the finger at Ellis Sherwood as being the killer of Phillip Saunders. Darren claimed that he was the lookout and Ellis and Michael had attacked and robbed Phillip. Darren said that he was the mastermind behind the attack and understood that Phillip Saunders may be hurt in the assault but that the intention had never been to kill him. Police were originally sceptical of the confession but the story soon gained momentum.

Michael O’Brien was asked by the police to corroborate Darren's story and also blame Ellis for the murder. Michael insisted to detectives that if that was true he would have no qualms about giving up his brother-in-law. He said that neither man had been anywhere near the crime scene at the time the murder had occurred. On November 2nd all three men were released on bail. 

A week later, Michael and the other two men were re-arrested following the uncovering of what police said was new evidence. The evidence came from two witnesses, a man and woman, who I’m going to refer to by their initials CC and HM. They both said that Ellis Sherwood and Michael O’Brien had been displaying suspicious behaviour and holding incriminating conversations since the murder had taken place. They said they saw Ellis one morning in the town with a large amount of money. (I believe this was the morning following the attack on Phillip). They claimed they had overheard Michael on the telephone bragging about the murder. 

Michael insisted that he had a female friend who could testify that they were nowhere near the crime scene at the time Phillip was murdered. He claimed he would have had to run nearly 5 km in five minutes in order to have the opportunity to commit the crime. Police did not believe Michael’s story and the female friend was told by police she was not needed as a witness. The two statements given by CC and HM were enough for all three men, including Darren, to be charged in connection with the robbery and murder of Phillip.

While Michael was in prison on remand, his young wife gave birth to their baby daughter Kylie. It was the couple's second child as they already had a 1 year old son. Three months later tragedy struck when Kylie died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, sometimes referred to as cot death. An already stressful situation became unbearable. Michael’s world collapsed overnight. He was granted permission to attend his daughter's funeral but had to remain handcuffed to a prison guard. The sight of the small white coffin affected everyone in attendance. Prison staff who had shown little respect to Michael before this treated him with compassion and kindness on that day. 

Shortly after this his wife, who was only 17 or 18 years old, left Michael and soon divorced him. This was another trauma he had to cope with, made worse by the fact that his ex-wife then started a relationship with his best friend. Following this, Michael started to have suicidal thoughts and began to self harm. He spent some time over the next couple of months in hospital and by the time the trial came around he was a shell of his former self.

The trial started on June 27 1988. Ellis and Michael denied murder and robbery but unexpectedly Darren pleaded guilty to robbery and manslaughter. The Judge, however, rejected the plea and Darren had to go through with the trial.

The defence case started strongly, as the prosecution's evidence came under attack and was found wanting. The witness CC, who had given police a statement incriminating Michael and Ellis, was accused of giving evidence only in order to reduce the 1 year sentence he was currently serving for burglary. Just days after CC gave his evidence in court he claimed he had been forced to sign fabricated statements. He had signed the documents because the police had threatened to have his children put into the care system. 

Despite this damning accusation, the prosecution was not put off and produced two ace cards. The first was the confession given by Darren Hall to the police and the second the evidence of Detective Inspector Stuart Lewis.

DI Lewis told the court of an alleged conversation he had heard between Michael O’Brien and Ellis Sherwood in police cells when they were held at the station for questioning. He claimed Michael told Ellis that he couldn't hold on much longer and that he may tell them everything. DI Lewis did not have his notebook with him at the time so jotted down the conversation on the back of a police expenses form. The form was produced as evidence in court.

The jury adjourned to make its decision. After 6 and a half hours they had reached a 10-2 majority verdict that all three men were guilty of murder. Michael and Ellis were also found guilty of robbery. 

As Michael was led out of the court he pleaded with his Dad to believe he wasn't guilty. He turned to the jury with tears in his eyes desperately exclaiming that they had got it wrong. As he was ushered out by court officials Michael repeated loudly over and over that they hadn't done it.

Michael’s time in prison did not start well. He spent his first two years in a high security unit at Long Lartin prison in Worcestershire.  He was surrounded by violence every day. Stabbings, fights and people being hit with pool balls in socks were regular occurrences. During the time he was there seven prisoners were murdered by fellow inmates, some of which he witnessed firsthand.  In order to cope with the day to day brutality, Michael turned to drugs to help numb the pain. Drugs were readily available inside the prison and he soon became a regular user of cannabis and cocaine.

Ellis Sherwood also found prison life extremely tough. The young man had been in prison briefly before but literally for only a couple of days. Serving a life sentence was an altogether different experience. Ellis also turned to drugs. Speaking years later, his memories of that period are blurred; he spent much of his time stoned as a way to cope with the harsh reality of prison life.

While Michael and Ellis maintained their innocence. in group therapy sessions Darren began telling fellow inmates and prison staff a different account of the night Phillip Saunders was murdered. His version of events was now that he had killed Phillip. He said the murder had happened after Hall had been sexually assualted and raped by two men, possibly at the instigation of Phillip Saunders. In this version Michael and Ellis unsuccessfully attempted to stop the attack and drag Darren away. Darren then changed his account again saying that he, Michael and Ellis had nothing to do with the murder.

Mental health professionals working at the prison began to realise that Hall was a pathological liar and was extremely susceptible to pressure from other people, wanting to fit in and receive attention.

By 1990, Michael O’Brien was at an all time low and barely existing, just making it through from day to day. He was rapidly going down a path of self destruction. One day after a particularly heavy drug session he passed out for eight hours. It proved to be a pivotal moment for Michael. When he regained consciousness he made the decision to change. Around this time Michael met some of the members of the Birmingham Six which helped him to think differently about his situation. 

On the 21 November 1974 two IRA bombs were detonated in pubs in the centre of Birmngham. 21 people lost their lives and almost 182 were injured. The Birmingham Six were the six Irishmen charged and then found guilty of the crime. They were Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Joseph Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker. In reality all six men were innocent. The confessions they had given were forced and evidence had been manipulated or ignored in order to secure the convictions. In March 1991 the Court of Appeal quashed their verdicts and the Birmingham Six walked out of prison free men. This remains one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history. 

At the time Michael met the Birmingham Six, they were still in prison fighting for their freedom. They listened to Michael and encouraged him to do the same. He wasn't going to get out of prison taking drugs and no one else was going to fight for him unless he led the way. He needed to put his mind to work if he was ever going to get out. With the help of prison medical staff Michael managed to get clean from drugs. He started seeing a prison psychologist called Fiona who was a tremendous support to him. 

This upturn in Michael’s life took a heavy blow when an appeal made by his legal team in 1989 was rejected in March 1990. Michael was told by his lawyers that it was the end of the road for him. They had exhausted all options, and Michael just had to accept that his future lay behind bars.

On the back of improvements to his mental health Michael began reading books and taking classes. This was a challenge to Michael, as he had been barely literate when he had first come into prison. He enjoyed studying and discovered he was a natural scholar. As his education developed he began learning more about the law and felt something he had not experienced in a long time, hope. 

He started to write upwards of 70 letters a week to journalists and politicians. Between 1992 and 93 alone he wrote to every Member of Parliament at Westminster and garnered hundreds of replies. Campaigning gave him a renewed purpose and spurred him on. His efforts were paying off as word got out and people from across the world began paying attention. Groups campaigning against perceived miscarriages of justice took notice. Leaflets were published highlighting the case and demonstrations were held regularly, with Michael’s mother often at the heart of them. 

Others were not so pleased with what Michael was doing. Prison authorities were wary of the attention he was garnering and decided enough was enough. Michael was prohibited from contacting people working in the media. As a response Michael took the Home office to court and won. The prison authority's decision had to be reversed.  

The case of Michael O’Brien, Ellis Sherwood and Darren Hall became known as the Cardiff Newsagent Three. They had to be identified by the occupation of the victim Phillip Saunders to differentiate from the already existing Cardiff Three. The Cardiff Three were Tony Paris,Yusef Abdullahi and Stephen Miller, who had been convicted in 1990 for the murder of 20 year old, Lynette White. In 1992 their convictions were quashed after appeal. The real killer, Jeffrey Gafoor, was found guilty in 2003.

BBC Wales journalist Karen Voizey developed an interest in the Cardiff Newsagent Three and began researching the case. Voizey was influential in putting together an episode of the current affairs TV programme Week In Week Out featuring the story. Following a sympathetic response from the public, momentum began to grow and a more comprehensive documentary aired in 1996. In the programme some of the witnesses who gave evidence at the first trial openly admitted that they had lied. Serious doubts were raised about the conduct of some police officers involved in the investigation and the evidence presented in court to convict the three men.

The new evidence garnered by the TV documentary saw the Home Office send the case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. Thames Valley police were then charged to carry out an investigation into the way the case was originally handled by South Wales police.The findings were released in the latter half of 1998 and disclosed that there had been more than one hundred offences committed by serving officers against the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. It concluded that there had been a systematic disregard of police guidelines for the treatment of people in custody. 

Enquiries discovered that Darren Hall had been denied access to a solicitor for some of the time he was being questioned by police, including when he gave his confession. Evidence suggested that Darren and the other men had been handcuffed to a radiator at the police station and denied food and water for periods of time. (move to 24.26)

The extent of Darren Hall’s poor mental health at the time of the trial was also exposed. Mental health professionals determined that when Darren had given his confession he had been suffering from Antisocial Personality Disorder. He had a deep-seated need to fit in and to please people. It was uncovered that a year or so before the murder he had admitted to a robbery he had not committed, while on remand for another offence. 

Thames Valley police could not find the note of the alleged conversation between Michael O’Brien and Ellis Sherwood that was said to have been scrawled by DI Stuart Lewis on the back of a police expenses form. This, together with other evidence from the case, had been destroyed shortly after the trial in 1988.

Sensing that the case would now surely have to go to the Court of Appeal, Michael, Ellis and Darren asked their lawyers about the prospect of applying for bail. The advice they were given was not to bother, as it was highly unlikely to be granted, but the men went ahead regardless. 

The Criminal Cases Review Commission officially requested an appeal hearing. Michael was in his prison cell listening to BBC Five Live when it was announced on the news that he and the other two men would be released on bail. Michael walked out of prison on December 21st 1998 with  just £44 in his pocket. He had no train ticket home to Cardiff, instead a  BBC journalist drove him back to South Wales. 

It was an odd feeling to be out in the world and one that came with more than a few challenges. Michael found dealing with everyday things like the volume of traffic on the roads difficult to get used to. The noise and sensation of movement was disorientating. One thing that was particularly unnerving was going to sleep at night. He kept forgetting that he could open his door should he wish to, as he was so used to being locked in a cell for hours on end.

The Appeal began on December 10th 1999. For seven days three judges heard the evidence concerning the errors of the original investigation. Dareen Hall's confession was particularly scrutinised. Even the prosecution's own psychiatric expert told the Appeal Court that the evidence given by Darren Hall at the original trial could be unreliable in light of what had been revealed about his mental state at the time.

On the 17th December the judges retired to deliberate. It took them just three minutes to decide that Michael, Ellis and Darren should be acquitted on all charges, and their convictions were quashed.

Standing outside the Court of Appeal a defiant Michael vowed that he would be South Wales police’s worst nightmare. He was not going to stop until they had admitted why and how they had made such a shambles of the original investigation and the real killer of Phillip Saunders had been brought to justice.

Less than a year later, Michael returned to the Court to hear the Appeal judges give their reasons for the decision they had made. Michael was hoping that an apology would be given to himself, Ellis and Darren for the way they had been treated. An apology was not forthcoming and Michael lost his temper with court officials, swearing and shouting about the injustice he had suffered. Friends and family had to usher him out of the building for fear he was going to be found in contempt of court. 

Twelve months later, in 2001, the Police Complaints Authority stated that no action would be taken against any police officers involved in the Phillip Saunders murder investigation. Michael was shocked and became very angry at the world. He resented the fact he’d had over a decade of his life stolen from him. 

Around this time Michael was diagnosed with PTSD and started to fall back into the drug habit he had worked so hard to rid himself of. Michael’s Stepdad, Jimmy, had passed away while he was in prison. The two had a close relationship and the older man's absence from Michael’s life was sorely felt. It made coping with life on the outside all the more difficult. 

Thankfully Michael managed to kick the drugs once and for all and developed a renewed zeal. He was determined to carry on the fight for recognition of the injustice he had suffered. He took out a civil case against South Wales police for malicious prosecution and misfeasance (the wrongful exercise of lawful authority). In 2006 the case was settled out of court and Michael received £300,000. Ellis Sherwood received £200,000. At the time it was the biggest payout ever by a police force in Wales or England. This money was on top of the £600,000 compensation each man had received from the Home Office for their wrongful imprisonment. 

You may notice that Darren Hall did not receive any money from the out of court settlement with the police. This is because some time in the years following his release from prison, Darren Hall disappeared, and his whereabouts to this day are unknown. I can only hope that he was able to put his horrendous experience behind him and find some peace.

Over the next few years, Michael settled down and remarried. He became a father for the third time and started his own business, though the latter venture did not succeed as he hoped. Michael continued to pursue accountability from the South Wales police. He made a formal complaint to the Police Complaints Commission about the alleged fabrication of evidence in the Phillip Saunders murder investigation. 

In 2010 Detective Superintendent Chris Hobley of Norfolk police was put in charge of two investigations to examine how the original case had been handled by South Wales police. The first investigation was undertaken by the Independent Police Complaints Commission and focused on the allegations that evidence had been fabricated. The second investigation would be a criminal investigation run by South Wales police and overseen by Superintendent Hobley into the erroneous evidence given by witnesses at the original trial.

Subsequently a 45 year old man and a 46 year old woman were arrested and released on bail over the evidence they had given at trial. Two further men aged 40 and 41 and a woman aged 40 were questioned. In 2011 the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided there was insufficient evidence  to prosecute any individual.

The full report on these investigations came out in 2015. The CPS decided that no police officers or retired officers would face charges relating to their conduct in the original murder investion. Michael O’Brien was disappointed but the report as a whole gave him encouragement that what had happened to him could not happen again. 

The real killer of Phillip Saunders remains at large. In 2003 South Wales police reinvestigated the murder of Phillip Saunders but no new evidence was found. In 2015 police said that they were looking at opportunities to solve the case through DNA evidence. As of yet nothing has come of this, but in the last year or so police have again stated that with technological advances DNA could yet hold the key to finally solving the case. This may be DNA found on Phillip Saunders’s body, on the murder weapon or possibly on the whiskey bottle found at the scene. No one can be sure as police have not gone into details. 

The Saunders family have rarely spoken publicly about the murder and have dealt with their grief privately. In 2006 Phillip Saunders’s nephew Phillip Saunders Jr. gave a rare interview to the press about his uncle. Phillip Jr. has fond memories of  working with his uncle  on the stalls at Bessemer Road Market in Leckwith, Cardiff. He remembers him as being a nice man to be around. He was an honest person, who had never harmed anyone in his life. His uncle was never far from his thoughts. 

Ellis Sherwood has only given a couple of interviews since being released from prison. He suffered a stroke in 2001, just days before the birth of his first daughter. Since then he has suffered a lot of health problems including epilepsy. This has had many ramifications for his life, including not being able to obtain custody of his children. The money he received from the South Wales police was held by the Court of Protection after the stroke as he was deemed to be unable to look after his financial affairs. He has to apply through his solicitors to access the money. In 2009 he was awarded additional compensation by the Home office because the stroke was as a result of the drug habit he had developed while wrongly incarcerated. Ellis currently lives in the Llanishen area of Cardiff with his partner. 

Life has never been easy for Michael either. In 2012 his fourth child, Dylan, passed away. The toddler had been born with a rare genetic condition and had health problems since birth. It nearly broke Michael, but somehow he has come through it. In the years following Dylan’s death his second marriage ended and Michael is now bringing up his teenage son as a single dad. 

During all the research I did on this case  I was bowled over by what  Michael has been through in his life. He has survived so many traumas and yet remains such a positive person who continues to try and do good. Now aged 54, he continues to write books about his ordeal. His most recent publication is called The Dossier. The first half focuses on details from the Cardiff Newsagent Three case while the second half highlights other miscarriages of justice or unsafe convictions from South Wales over the past forty years.

After years of trying, in May 2022 Michael finally met some members of the  Saunders family. The occasion was filmed as part of a Sky TV documentary, British Injustice, presented by Raphael Rowe. Michael talked with Phillip Saunders's aunt and nephew. It was a cathartic experience for everyone involved. 

Michael is still campaigning and will not rest until Phillip Saunders's killer has been identified. He is calling for a public enquiry into the original investigation case and a proper reinvestigation of the muder. He would also like an official apology from South Wales police

Michael is always quick to point out that he is a secondary victim in this tragic series of events and says it is time for Phillip’s family to receive the justice they deserve. As we approach the 35 year anniversary of Phillip’s murder, Detective Chief Superintendent Jason Davies told Wales Online that the case is still under active consideration and remains open. Police will re-investigate the case if and when new evidence is presented.