City Libraries, City of Gold Coast

The Cameo conspiracy, a shocking true story of murder and injustice, George Skelly

eng

Includes index

platesillustrations

index present

non fiction

The Cameo conspiracy

George Skelly

a shocking true story of murder and injustice

The key actors range from the enigmatic and long discredited Detective Chief Inspector Herbert Balmer (whose nickname was the 'King of the Verbals') to the much criticised Lord Chief Justice of the times, Lord Goddard, to a relative of the author whose knowledge of a travesty of justice echoes throughout the book's pages. George Kelly was hanged in 1949 for shooting dead two men: the manager of the Cameo Cinema, Wavertree and his assistant. Undeniably from the wrong side of the tracks and involved in the black markets, rackets and illegal drinking dens of the post-Second-World-War era, Kelly and his co-accused Charles Connolly (who went to prison for ten years) found themselves expertly 'fitted-up' because they were deemed to be riff-raff in what for them both became a Kafkaesque nightmare. In this, the definitive book on the Cameo case, the author recounts these events with the eye of someone who has undertaken prodigious research and has a passion against injustice. The result is not simply a superbly worked account of how due process and justice faltered but a snapshot of social and legal history in which the parallel worlds of the Underworld and Establishment collide in the courtroom and official decision-making. The Cameo murder case can also be seen as one of the most important of the 20th century. Although it took 50 years for the injustice to be admitted, along with the case of Timothy Evans and others incomprehensible to the modern-day eye, it ranks as a turning point in understanding the depths of wickedness or wilful blindness to which certain people or their organizations can descend to in the absence of decency, integrity and adequate safeguards. After more than half a century, the book's two subjects were posthumously cleared by the Court of Appeal in 2003, following the release of the original version of this book

Machine generated contents note: 1.We're off to see the Wizard -- 2.Oh How We Danced -- 3.We are the Brothers Malone -- 4.The best of life is but intoxication -- 5.Smart Girl, Wise Guy -- 6.Calling all cars! -- 7.An Inspector Calls -- 8.Investigations are continuing -- 9.A dangerous game -- 10.When first we practice to deceive -- 11.In the merry month of May -- 12.My brother's keeper? -- 13.Fools are made the dupes of rogues -- 14.The Conspiracy begins -- 15.The Spider and the Fly -- 16.The vilest deeds like poison weeds -- 17.Some do the deed with many tears -- 18.And some without a sigh -- 19.Thou shalt not bear false witness -- 20.Heads you win. Tails I lose -- 21.In suspicious circumstances -- 22.Agree to a short Armistice with the Truth -- 23.Two plus two equals five -- 24.A most fantastic case -- 25.This welter of wickedness -- 26.The law's delay, the insolence of office -- 27.It's surprising what the law can do to an innocent man -- 28."No, no," said the Queen --Contents note continued: 29.Suffer any wrong that may be done to you rather than come here -- 30.WHY?