Park, Gordon

Gordon Park was convicted in January 2005 at Manchester Crown Court for the murder of his wife, Carol Park, 29 years after she went missing in the summer of 1976. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 15 years.

Carol Park’s body was found by amateur divers in Coniston Water, Cumbria, in 1997.

Mr Park appealed against his conviction but the appeal was dismissed in November 2008. On 25 January 2010, Mr Park committed suicide in his cell at HMP Garth in Lancashire. In November 2010 members of Mr Park’s family applied on his behalf to the CCRC.

Following an extensive investigation, the CCRC decided to refer Mr Park’s murder conviction for a fresh hearing at the Court of Appeal.

The CCRC referred the case because it considered there was a real possibility that the Court would quash the conviction in light of new evidence. In the CCRC’s view that real possibility arose from the cumulative effect of a number of matters including:

· The non-disclosure of expert opinion undermining the consistent implication by the prosecution that Gordon Park’s climbing axe, an exhibit at trial, could be the murder weapon.

· The non-disclosure of information undermining the reliability of a prosecution witness who gave evidence of a prison confession.

· New scientific evidence showing that Gordon Park was not a contributor to DNA preserved within knots of the rope used to bind Ms Park’s body.

· The renewed relevance of expert evidence, presented for Mr Park at the first appeal, that a rock found in the lake near Mrs Park’s remains could not specifically be linked to rocks at Bluestones (Mr Parks’ home).

The CCRC referred the conviction in October 2018.

The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in May 2020.