Paul Blackburn
Imagine this; you are 15, life at home isn’t great to say the least, no love or care; violence and abuse is all you know.You’re not particularly confident and often feel inadequate around people, petty crime and fighting is a way of life for you, a way to survive; eventually your name even becomes familiar down at the station.
When it comes down to it, no-one really cares what happens to you; not the most unfamiliar story really, our streets are still full of kids like Paul Blackburn.
Waiting for someone to notice them, help them, someone to show that they care.
Paul Blackburn was just 15 when the state decided that they were going to steal his life from him.
No real family support, no reliable solicitor, all alone in the world and in the hands of a cruel determined team of officers, desperate to justify their salary and lock someone up for a horrible crime; reassure “the people” that justice has been done.
Find the real perpetrator or find just anyone…? Did anyone really care on the day?
Justice didn’t come into it when it came down to Paul Blackburn and the 25 years he had to wait for his release after being convicted to life in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
The police bullied him and they beat him up, they threatened him with other offences until, in the end, the frightened and exhausted 15 year old boy signed a confession, a worthless statement mostly dictated by the officers, the very same officers who were supposed to be keeping him safe.
Paul probably didn’t even understand half of the words on the piece of paper he had just signed and as soon as he realised what had just happened, he retracted his confession and started to claim his innocence.
He didn’t commit this crime, he was just scared of the men shouting in his face and hurting him, he was waiting for someone to walk in and make it better, someone to tell these people that they were wrong and that they had arrested the wrong person.
No-one came for him, too busy or not interested enough; on December 1978, Paul Blackburn was convicted for the attempted murder of a nine year old boy.
Still, he wasn’t there when it happened, there was no DNA to link him to the crime and he didn’t even fit the description of the alleged assailant…
I was 5 and starting out my life, for 15 year old Paul Blackburn this was the beginning of a long 25 year battle, a huge miscarriage of justice had only just started to unfold.
Paul spent 25 years at the mercy of the prison system, more violence, more threats, more beatings, drug abuse, self harming, isolation and a constant rebellious attitude towards his kidnappers.
I first met Paul Blackburn just a few months after his release at Miscarriage of Justice day in Manchester and as soon as our eyes met tears were rolling down my cheeks, I felt his crumbled insides screaming out through his eyes and my whole body turned cold, I was shocked and saddened by him and what had happened to him, I felt worried about him.
What goes on in the mind of someone who doesn’t know of the simple rules by which we all like to abide by; honesty and trust, care and love, loyalty?
Paul Blackburn was abandoned 25 years ago; they locked him up and threw away the key.
This man who was standing in front of me with a very dark look in his eyes had the softest voice and a gentleness about him which surprised me.
Was this just the outside façade of a broken man, frightened, lost and confused by the people around him?
Everyone including me was gathering around Paul to tell him that after he had suffered in the hands of the law for over 25 years, we had believed him all along…
Why did it take so long and why didn’t anyone stand up for Paul on that day, why had it taken 27 years or so for justice to be done?
In the end, the law let him go because they had ran out of excuses to keep him in, free to fight on the outside, he was released on licence in 2003 and it took another 2 years for his appeal to go through and his conviction to be overturned but it was.
Paul Blackburn was innocent all along!
27 years altogether to put this mistake right and after all this time a broken man remains alone with his past.
How much unnecessary damage had been done, how much life did the system steal from Paul Blackburn?
4 years after I initially met Paul Blackburn, I met up with him again; he still can’t sleep through being haunted by his past and the nightmares he had to survive through whilst we all lived our lives and grew up.
Anxious, frightened and depressed are understated words to describe the way Paul feels every day that he lives, panic attacks and distrust always seem in the way of his future.
Paul is still waiting to be compensated 29 years after the justice was miscarried.
After the system took away his chances of a “normal” life, growing up, finding a career, a family, love, or what ever he wished for, 29 years later Paul still awaits a simple sorry!
To describe Paul Blackburn in a few words, I would say kind, generous, dignified and honourable with a genuinely heartfelt smile, yet still so lost and lonesome.
How would anyone learn to trust or love after all this pain and deception, Paul had to survive alone for all these years against all adversities and is still fighting with himself to stop the images and the memories so that he can sit back and start really living and enjoying his life.
Paul also still struggles to believe that he deserves better than the abuse he was subjected to during all these years in prison.
The only anger that Paul still seems to retain is towards himself, for not fighting more, I say the system let him down and under the circumstances surviving was probably his only option.
To read more about Paul Blackburn’s case, please visit the links below.
