TRANSCRIPT - PANORAMA "THE WHOLE TRUTH" MARCH 6 2000 TESSA MAYES: Ten years ago miscarriages of justice sent shock waves through the criminal justice system. GERRY CONLON I spent 15 years in gaol and the police had evidence that could have cleared my name. MAYES What happened to Gerry Conlon, one of the Guildford Four wasn't supposed to happen again, and yet this man spent 11 months in prison for something he didn't do. PETER BATES I just didn't do it. I was innocent. MAYES Are innocent people accused of serious crimes getting justice? This video was filmed by West Mersea police officers at an Animal Rights demonstration in Redditch two years ago. It was used to convict Brent Reid of threatening behaviour. POLICEWOMAN He's been arrested, he was in the vehicle, refused to get out, was asked nicely lots of times. BRENT REID At no point did I resist arrest. Both my arms were forced up my back and I was marched away. I couldn't believe it when I was found guilty. I hadn't done anything. It was like watching somebody else's bad dream. It was almost as if I expected somebody to turn round and 'fooled you', you know, you're not really being prosecuted, but I was. MAYES Brent Reid decided to appeal against his conviction using a solicitor who specialises in civil liberties cases. KEVIN TOMLINSON When I first looked at the video that was disclosed, it was clear there was another officer who was recording the arrest of Mr Reid from much closer. That evidence was always going to be crucial to the case and was likely to give a much clearer picture of the incident than the original video that had been disclosed. MAYES So three months ago he asked the Crown Prosecution Service in charge of prosecutions for the second video. KEVIN TOMLINSON The video has never actually been disclosed to us, we've never actually seen it, we've simply been told what is on that second video, and we were told the day before the appeal was to be heard that the Crown Prosecution Service had seen that second video and they had decided that they would not continue with the case against Brent Reid because that second video did not support the evidence of the two arresting officers. REID It was just immense relief at first, but then followed very quickly by a sense of anger that this should have happened. TOMLINSON Had the second video officer been out of camera shot, then we would never have known that there was other evidence that would have supported Mr Reid's case. The conviction may well have stood and Mr Reid would have had a criminal conviction against his name. MAYES We asked West Mersea Police for a copy of the second video. They refused and declined to take part in the programme. But they told Panorama "We take our duty to disclose evidence very seriously". REID The criminal proceedings had been discontinued, and as far as I can see they've nothing to gain by not releasing it. Quite clearly, without the disclose of crucial evidence, I'm left with both hands timed behind my back. How am I supposed to prove my innocence when evidence that should be disclosed to me is denied. TESSA MAYES Brent Reid's case is one of many in which the defence are having problems getting hold of the evidence from the prosecuting authorities. It had been hoped that new legislation, brought in after major miscarriages of justice, would solve the problem of disclosure. Now there is growing concern that the new legislation is undermining the right to a fair trial. GERRY CONLON On Thursday night, 10th October, I woke up and I arrived a category A prisoner. Four or five hours later I was released from the Old Bailey. MAYES In Gerry Conlon's case, one of the Guildford Four convicted in 1975 for a series of pub bombings, important evidence wasn't disclosed. His conviction was declared unsafe but he'd spent 15 years in prison. CONLON And when I came out I was so confused and frightened by the noise, hearing the crowd shout and yell, that I actually ran the wrong way, and it had frightened me. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't expect people to be supporting us. And then my two sisters came and took hold of my hand and led me to the waiting journalists who were up there, and I came and I made that emotional statement. "In prison for 15 years for something I didn't do, for something I didn't know anything about, a totally innocent man". I feel very sad and I feel very disturbed because this is the court where I was convicted. This is the court where I was convicted, this was the court that destroyed people's lives. MAYES The case of the Guildford Four raised questions about the fairness of British courts. It shook the foundations of the whole criminal justice system. A fictionalised account based on Conlon's life immortalised the battle to clear his name. 'In the Name of the Father' Universal City Studios OFFICER Here's your statement. CONLON "I didn't do this. Why are you doing this to me? I swear to God, I know where I was at the time of the bombing. I was with a meth man called Charlie Burke." MAYES But Charlie Burke couldn't be found to testify in Conlon's defence. GERRY CONLON I had no witnesses, I had no alibi. It was my word against the might of the judicial system, and that was remarked upon by Donaldson, the trial judge. "You may believe Mr Conlon who gave his evidence from the witness box but has no-one to support it, or you may believe the police who've all these years of experience and have all these awards" you know. So I actually felt a bit guilty that I hadn't got no-one, but I knew that I was innocent. MAYES The jury didn't believe him. He was convicted and sentenced to life. CONLON I was devastated. I was devastated. You know, I knew that I was probably going to spend maybe 15-20 maybe even die in prison. We seemed to have nothing. MAYES What he didn't know at the time was that his alibi had been investigated. CONLON The police did go to the hostel and checked the people who I said were there at that particular time, and they were able to track them down, and one of them, Charles Burke, I remember it came to me that he was leaving the day of the Guildford bombings and had given me a few little things that he was leaving behind, like aftershave or something like that there, and he could verify that I was there. Well the police were able to track him down and he confirmed what I had said and gave a statement to the police. 'In the Name of the Father' Universal City Studios OFFICER: (presenting solicitor with files) Well that's the start of it. MAYES The alibi evidence wasn't given to Conlon's defence. But Gareth Pierce, his solicitor, checked the case files years later, and by chance she found the statement from Charlie Burke. It confirmed Gerry Conlon's alibi. CONLON It was like a miracle they found it. I think that Charles Burke's statement still would have been lying in some storage cupboard in some police station and my defence would never have seen it. That's a very, very sad and frightening and indicative thing of what was happening at that time, that evidence that could help the defence was being suppressed. MAYES The alibi statement did reach the prosecution files but it's never been established who was at fault for its non disclosure. JOHN WADHAM DIRECTOR, LIBERTY That was an absolutely crucial piece of evidence that was missing. If he'd have got that, he probably wouldn't have gone to prison, he probably wouldn't have spent all those years in custody. We need to learn the lesson from that. MAYES It did look as if the lessons would be learnt as conviction after conviction was overturned. In the case of the Birmingham Six, it was discovered that important forensic tests weren't disclosed. For Judith Ward, psychiatric evidence wasn't disclosed and she'd spent 18 years in prison. Public concern about miscarriages led the government to set up a royal commission to reform the criminal justice system. Civil rights campaigners hope that a system of full disclosure would be accepted as the way forward but the police argued that excessive disclosure would undermine their investigations. DAVID PHILLIPS ASSOCIATION OF CHIEF POLICE OFFICERS We wanted there to be a fair trial. We did not want the defence to say... we would ramble through all the police documentation, all the police intelligence systems, see what the police case is and then put together the most plausible defence that we might construct from the extraneous material. MAYES The Royal Commission accepted their argument, they recommended that the prosecution should decide what evidence the defence should have despite the risks. MICHAEL ZANDER ROYAL COMMISSION ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE, 1991-93 The Royal Commission was persuaded that there was such a burden on the prosecution that it was reasonable to take the risk of further miscarriages of justice in order to make the system more efficient, it was clearly a risk. Everyone accepted that and of course it was assumed that the prosecution agencies would do the job that they were going to be required to do and make honest and full disclosure according to the rules. [Conservative Party Conference 1993] In the last thirty years the balance in our criminal justice system has been tilted too far in favour of the criminal and against the protection of the public. The time has come to put that right. MAYES In 1996, the then Home Secretary received cross party support when he introduced the criminal procedure and investigations act. It further restricted the defences ability to see the evidence. ZANDER The government took the recommendation of the Royal Commission but then greatly changed it and I think changed it in ways that are unacceptable, were unacceptable then and if the Royal Commission had been asked its view the royal commission would have said "No, we don't agree with that at all. TESSA Instead of the defence deciding for itself what evidence it wanted to see, the 1996 act gave the power to make those decisions to the police and the crown prosecution service. WADHAM The police lobby had changed the nature of the way parliament and government thought about this and they brought in draconian measures which have damaged people's right to a fair trial. CONLAN When we got out of Birmingham... six got out... it rocked the establishment in it's foundations/ put a small crack in it. But I think they've got real good builders on hand to put it back together and I think they've closed ranks, they're making it more secret, they're making it more sinister. MAYES But supporters of the new disclosure system shay it is fair as long as the prosecution and the defence follow the rules. However panorama has discovered cases where innocent people accused of serious crimes have been denied proper access to evidence under the present system. 54 year old Jack Read has been a pub landlord for 20 years. He's always trusted the police until now. JACK READ Well for 15 months the police put me through a traumatic and a horrible time. It was pure hell, absolutely pure hell and I've got no faith, no trust whatsoever in the police now because if another incident happened, would I get the same treatment? MAYES Three years ago Jack Read was accused of assaulting a man after holding a staff Christmas party in his pub. The prosecution claim that outside, Jack Read and the father of one of his staff had an argument who was accused of breaking the man's jaw. Several of the man's family and friends claim to have seen it happen. READ The police phoned me five/ six weeks later, said that I actually broke this chap's jaw and I joked with the officer concerned because I thought it was some sort of practical joke being played on me. They asked me to go to the police station to be arrested and I said "Well I'm a bit busy at the moment and I made an appointment three days later at half past one he advised me to bring my solicitor. MAYES But Jack Read says the men in his family were enjoying the party until they started arguing amongst themselves. He asked them to leave. He claims the man punched him so he pushed the man outside and went to bed. He says he's got no idea of what happened to the man later that evening. NICK CLARKE DEFENCE BARRISTER It would have been a mater for the jury which of the two versions they preferred. There was a danger that if the jury accepted the witness statements that the crown put forward he would have been convicted and if convicted he would likely have been sent to prison. He was a man of good character but that would not necessarily have saved him from a custodial sentence? MAYES Jack Read was charged with grievous bodily harm and faced up to five years in prison. He spent 15 anxious months awaiting trial. READ I lost interest in the pub, I lost trade through it, because the personality changes even though I was not guilty. Your personality changes in effect... you don't want to associate with people... nice people... bad people, and it's a horrible, horrible feeling. MAYES The Defence discovered that police officers had spoken to the victim of the assault and his family later that evening. A brief record of the incident was made in a police log. The police are responsible for compiling a list of evidence on a form and should highlight anything they think needs to be handed over to the Defence. In Jack Read's case, the police log was listed on the form, but it was never given to the defence and full details of everything police officers were told that night, weren't even listed by the officer in charge. CLARKE This is a classic example of an officer who has either failed to appreciate the significance of the information that he's had, or deliberately failed to disclose it to the defence to the detriment of an individual who's faced a serious charge for a long period of time. But we don't know what other material has not been disclosed in other cases. JOHN WADHAM DIRECTOR, LIBRARY You don't know what documents the police may have and if they won't give them to you, you'll never be in a position to know whether there's a possible defence, whether there was a witness that might have helped you. So it's a lottery now and that's not the way we should run a criminal justice system. MAYES This case isn't the only one where there's been a problem getting hold of the evidence. The Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate published a report last week showing that two in five forms written by police officers were defective and one in ten had evidence that should have been listed, missed off the form altogether. STEPHEN WOOLER CHIEF INSPECTOR CROWN PROSECUTION SERVICE INSPECTORATE The significance of that can operate in two directions. Quite clearly if the defence do not have the material that they need to present their clients case properly, that can, in a very extreme case, lead to a wrongful conviction. At the other end of the spectrum but very important from the public's point of view is that if material comes to light late in the day, it can lead to failed prosecutions and in that situation an individual may well have not faced trial who ought to have faced trial. MAYES And as more cases collapse because of non-disclosure the police are worried that the guilty can go free. One of the problems is that their extra responsibilities have put greater pressure on police resources. Lee Whitehead works as a police disclosure officer, he has to sift through hundreds of items of evidence to decide what's important for the defence. DC LEE WHITEHEAD There's a certain amount of trust involved in this. All I'd say is that I wouldn't want to sign a document saying I'd given everything if I clearly hadn't. WADHAM Police officers are there to investigate crimes and to prosecute people and at the same time to ask them to be independent and to say, not only do we want to make sure that you knick the villains but we want you to also somehow step out of that role and help the people that you think are villains with their defence... is absolutely ridiculous. DAVID PHILLIPS ASSOCIATION OF CHIEF POLICE OFFICERS I am not involved in the police service and in seeking to develop a professional approach to investigative activities to say I'm interested in clichés like 'getting a result', or 'nicking villains'. That's drivel as far as I'm concerned. I'm interested in doing proper investigative job and making sure that convictions that are properly obtained stand up. MAYES But Jack Read is so disillusioned with the police he no longer wants a job involving regular contact with them. READ I put the pub on the market to sell. I lost all faith in the system, with the police, and also it was always in the back of my mind, if something like this happened again, would I have to go through it all over again and I wasn't prepared to. I still can't understand how the police can withhold vital evidence from my point of view. They found me guilty before anybody else. MAYES Fifteen months after the incident Jack Read's solicitors eventually got hold of the police log which detailed what the officers were told later that evening. They didn't get it from the police but the prosecution barrister who only saw it himself on the first day of trial. MICHAEL GOLDWATER PROSECUTION BARRISTER I was willing to disclose it and any reasonable and competent barrister would have disclosed it. I thought it was a potentially significant document, it seems that the witnesses had told the officers at the scene that this was a domestic dispute between father and son.... that was somewhat different from what they had said in their statements. MAYES This was the police log where the police officers record what they saw. Would you like to see it? READ Yes please. But it says here, this was a domestic between father and son, so how come I got involved? So the police have had this all the time. So he could have give that to my solicitors on the day that I got arrested, or before I even got charged, and he never even asked me questions about it and I said that they were fighting amongst themselves, and this proves my exact words. So he didn't bother. The policeman didn't bother to listen to anything I said. MAYES We invited Greater Manchester Police to take part in our programme. They declined but told us they had reviewed training and procedures. They said "We will learn what lessons we can from this incident". DAVID PHILLIPS ASSOCIATION OF CHIEF POLICE OFFICERS The police do their level best to fulfil the requirements of this Act. They have no interest to do otherwise. As far as there may be imperfections, I pointed out to you that where there are imperfections in individual cases, if someone says something about it, then we are as anxious as anyone to put things right. But the notion that we want to sustain a system which prevents the proper disclosure of material is quite wrong. MAYES It's not just the police who are responsible for deciding what's disclosed. The Crown Prosecution Service review the police decision and then make the final judgment. But sometimes the CPS get it wrong too. Damien Robinson was only 19 years old when he was charged with attempted murder. On 20th January 1998 Damien Robinson said he spent the night at his friend's house playing computer games. He says he left in the early hours of the morning and went straight home to bed. But the prosecution claimed he didn't go home. They said he put on a balaclava and with one or two other men burst into a neighbour's house. They claimed Damien Robinson then stabbed a man repeatedly in the chest. DAMIEN ROBINSON A lot of people who heard what I was saying told me "Don't worry about it, we know you haven't done it, and it seems like it's a cock-up somewhere and it won't go to committal and hopefully some papers will come up and you'll get bail, not even bail, it'll just be left alone and you can go home." But as time went on and I kept going for bail, and I kept seeing that I wasn't getting this bail, I knew that it was more serious. MALITTA ROBINSON Damien has had petty crime before in the past, never been violent in any way, and suddenly being told that he is supposed to have been committing an attempted murder. It shocked me. To even use the word of attempt murder shocks me. MAYES The victim claims to have recognised Damien Robinson's voice during the attack. He was refused bail and imprisoned for three months before the trial. If convicted, Damien Robinson faced 10 to 20 years in prison. MALITTA. ROBINSON I am looking at my son sitting in a cell losing himself, and for how long I don't know. It was devastating for me. DAMIEN ROBINSON Gaol is a bad experience, somewhere I don't need to be because I haven't committed no crimes. Gaol is for a punishment and did no wrongs so I don't deserve to get punished. MAYES Forensic tests were carried out on two balaclavas found at the house where Damien had been that night. The defence were told results were negative but they wanted to see the full forensic statement. Information that was negative for the prosecution could be of positive use for the defence. But when they asked the CPS lawyer John Weston to send them, he refused. PAUL BACON DEFENCE SOLICITOR The CPS made a decision not to disclose the statements of the scientist, and that was important to us that we did force their hand and we did find out what was in those statements. It was crucial to establish that Damien had not worn the balaclava. He knew he hadn't and we wanted to prove he hadn't. MAYES A hair had been discovered in one of the balaclavas, but the defence solicitor only found out about it when he finally got hold of the forensic statement. The trial was delayed so the hair could be tested. BACON And absolutely astonishingly it was discovered that the hair was of Caucasian origin, and therefore there was no forensic evidence linking that balaclava with someone who was black. MAYES Another problem was getting hold of police notebooks. When they were finally received, months later, the notebook showed that the attacker, which the prosecution thought was Damien, was described by a witness as 'mixed race'. MALITTA ROBINSON I just find this appalling. I can't see why they failed to pass on evidence, evidence that they clearly had, that my son was not linked in any way with this crime. It doesn't make sense to me. MAYES The judge described the non-disclosure of notebooks as alarming and said the defence were entitled to have forensic evidence. He warned that in cases like this he had to intervene to prevent a serious miscarriage of justice. The jury were directed to bring in a verdict of 'not guilty'. NIGEL RUMFITT The CPS wholly failed to consider the material in any event, and a miscarriage of justice was narrowly avoided at the last minute. MAYES And if you hadn't have had that new evidence? NIGEL RUMFITT DEFENCE BARRISTER Well there's a real danger that Damien Robinson would be serving a sentence well into double figures by now. DAMIEN ROBINSON It's ripped me apart. It's made me nervous, it's made me sometimes just lock myself away from the outside world because I don't know what's going on, mentally and physically. MAYES Mr Weston, the CPS lawyer in the case, declined to take part in the programme. But the Crown Prosecution Service told us, they weren't provided with the forensic evidence and the notebooks weren't identified as being important by the police. RUMFITT The relationship between the CPS and the police generally has been poor, and you frequently find cases in court where each is blaming the other for something that has gone wrong. NAZIR AFZAL Hi Steve. Before you disappear and have yourself a cup of coffee, if you direct me to things that you weren't sure about.... MAYES Although the success of the prosecutors job depends partly on the police providing them with evidence in the first place, in the end prosecuting lawyers are responsible for what is ultimately disclosed. The system depends on everyone working together. CPS lawyers like Nazier Afzal try and discuss the evidence with police disclosure officers directly, but in practice they're not always able to because of limited time and resources. NAZIR AFZAL SENIOR CROWN PROSECUTOR You have maybe 200 - 300 cases alive at any one time, so you don't have the time to devote to chasing up inquiries, making sure that you have more and more information. You're reliant on the police providing you with the information at the earliest opportunity so that you can make a proper judgment based on all the information. MAYES The Crown Prosecution Service want the system to work, but, like the police, they say they are restricted by existing resources, and they accept that the CPS can make mistakes. DAVID CALVERT-SMITH DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS It clearly isn't working as it was intended to work, at least not universally, and I have been concerned since before I took this job that that was the case, and I'm now doing my best as Director of Public Prosecutions to improve matters. MAYES The Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate report criticises both the police and the CPS. It recommends the balance of responsibilities between them should change. CPS lawyers, rather than the police, should take on more responsibility to assess the unused evidence the defence needs. DAVID PHILLIPS ASSOCIATION OF CHIEF POLICE OFFICERS It may well be that the tenor of that report is broadly in line with what I am saying, that the Crown Prosecution Service really needs to take more responsibility for evaluating the material.. the unused material, and they are probably better placed to form judgments about what is relevant in the courts of the trial than the investigator. It may be, however, that the investigator has a proper role in saying I think there is some material here which you may not pick out looking at a schedule which poses a difficulty for the prosecution, and therefore is something that should be exposed to the defence. MAYES So you're admitting that the police can't do that job. PHILLIPS That is a very silly question to try to transpose what I have said into that.. into the question you phrased is not acceptable and I'm not prepared to answer it in those terms. MAYES So are you saying then that the police can't do that job? STEPHEN WOOLER CHIEF INSPECTOR CROWN PROSECUTION SERVICE INSPECTORATE I don't think that the police are necessarily well equipped to undertake that role. It does require them to make an assessment as to the relevance of the material to the case. That of itself is a decision which lends itself more naturally to a legally trained mind. MAYES Although the police accept that changes are needed, they're looking at ways to keep their disclosure responsibilities by introducing their own safeguards. PHILLIPS What we are looking at is, in the general run of cases, is whether or not, in assessing the material that the investigating officer has put together, whether that responsibility might be differently ordered, we're looking at how we supervise that. In this constabulary we're looking at whether we need to employ our own lawyers to facilitate that process and to give it perhaps more objectivity. I can see the difficulty. MAYES Whatever reforms the prosecution make, they say that the defence needs to change too. Under the act the defence should disclose details of their case in a statement so the prosecution can then look for more evidence on their behalf. But the defence don't always give the prosecution what they need. PHILLIPS I think the Act is working broadly on the police side as was intended. It's certainly not working as intended as far as the defence are concerned. One of the difficulties in this entire arrangement is, the refusal of the defence to make any proper defence statement so the police are in a position to make a judgment about what is material to their case, the police or the Crown Prosecution Service. JOHN WADHAM DIRECTOR, LIBERTY It almost means that the defendant has to collaborate with the prosecution in order to secure his own conviction, and that's not, and shouldn't be, part of any criminal justice system. The criminal justice system should be based on the prosecution having to prove its case against the defendant. The defence should be able to say nothing if he or she chose not to do so. MAYES Even if evidence is eventually disclosed and the defendants found not guilty, the delays and uncertainty can have a huge impact on somebody's life. Peter Bates was refused bail when he was accused of the attempted murder of his ex-girlfriend two years ago. Despite being acquitted, he'd spent 10½ months in Armley prison. PETER BATES When I was in prison, it just felt as if this was some sort of a dream, and that I would wake up in my own bed, in my own flat, and, you know, I can see my children and.. And I wasn't in my own flat, and I couldn't see my children. I was in prison, and I just didn't know when I was going home. I just didn't know, and I hadn't done anything. MAYES But the prosecution claimed that Peter Bates and another man had entered a woman's house on the 7th September 1997. They said that the two attackers had sprayed her with petrol and set her alight. BATES I just didn't do it. I was innocent. I don't know exactly what has happened to the woman but I was not there, I did not take part in anything. MAYES Over the next few months his solicitors were given evidence showing that the woman didn't know the identity of the second attacker. However, in court it emerged that she had originally mentioned who she thought he was. This information undermined her case. NICHOLAS CAMPBELL DEFENCE BARRISTER The complainant told us in evidence she had not only named Peter Bates as the principal of the two assailants, but she went on to name Craig Bates, his son, as the second. Well he was in custody at the time and he couldn't possibly have done it. MAYES Although the woman had told police officers that she thought the second man was Craig Bates, the information wasn't written down in their notebooks. CAMPBELL The officer in question, when I asked him those questions, told us that he had thought it wasn't relevant to make any record of that part of the conversation, and when I asked him why that was, he said "Well clearly she was wrong. She'd made a mistake, so why should I write it down?" Well that was an error of judgment at best, it was naïve, and he ought to have made a record of that conversation and it was something that ought t have been given to the defence long before the trial. MAYES This evidence helped to clear Peter Bates of all charges, but being in prison changed his life dramatically. BATES When I close my eyes to go to sleep, the very last thing in my thoughts, on my mind, is am I going to waken up, am I dreaming now, was that a dream or am I dreaming now? I'm terrified of waking up back in prison - terrified. MAYES We approached West Yorkshire police for an interview. They declined but told us that no information had been withheld deliberately. CAMPBELL He was acquitted by the jury so a the end of the day no injustice was done in so far as a conviction was concerned, but an injustice was done to him as an innocent man being kept in custody for so very long. Essentially, in my perception, and in my experience of the cases that I've been involved in, it's been the case since the Act was brought into effect, that the failure to disclose, which has undoubtedly become more prevalent, has led to greater injustices. MAYES As debate continues about whether disclosure should be in the hands of the prosecution or the defence, problems getting hold of evidence is harming people's right to a fair trial, and it's not only defence lawyers who question the disclosure system introduced by the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act, prosecuting authorities raise questions of their own. DAVID CALVERT-SMITH DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS I believe that we have to convince ourselves and the police that disclosure is not just an add on or an optional extra to the trial process, it is an integral part of it. MAYES And for Gerry Conlan, who didn't get a fair trial and spent 15 years in prison, the present system isn't good enough. CONLAN Not disclosing everything cost me 15 years of my life, caused my family heartache and ruin, and nothing seems to have been learnt from what happened to us, and it's a very long time to be stupid and say well we will not disclose this, the defence should disclose that, you know, it just beggars belief, it really does. __________________________ You can comment on the issues raised in tonight's programme by visiting our website at bbc.co.uk/panorama Next week "Spin Doctors" The truth about the Prime Minister's claim to be transforming the NHS 14