Kevin Nunes investigation: Secret dossier revealed after Express & Star campaign
Staffordshire Police today published a secret dossier of failings in the Kevin Nunes murder investigation, after a year-long battle by the Express & Star.
The document, known as the Costello Report, was never disclosed to the lawyers, jury or judge at the original trial of five men who were jailed for life over the 2002 gangland killing in Pattingham.
In 2012, the convictions of the five men - Adam Joof from Willenhall, Antonio Christie, from Great Bridge and Levi Walker, from Birmingham, as well as Michael Osbourne and Owen Crooks, both from Wolverhampton - were quashed after details of the failings were exposed by a whistleblower.
A Court of Appeal judge described the failure to disclose the report as 'a serious perversion of the course of justice' and a 'shocking episode'.
The report has never fully been in the public domain until today following a 12-month Freedom of Information battle by the Express & Star.
The force twice refused to publish the dossier but changed its stance after the case was referred to the Information Commissioner.
Details, including the names of the officers, have been blanked out.
The Express & Star last year revealed a series of new details about the case after an investigation spanning three years.
Fourteen Staffordshire Police officers, including three Chief Constables, were investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) over the Nunes case.
Prosecutors said none of the officers would be charged.
The IPCC's investigation was concluded two years ago but its report has never been made public.
Only one junior officer has been reprimanded with the others facing no disciplinary hearings despite the IPCC recommending there should be further action taken.
For more on the report read tomorrow's Express & Star.
