All scientific evidence has been dropped from the case against the Birmingham
Six, the Court of Appeal in London was told last week.
The six men were convicted of the Birmingham pub bombs in 1975, partly
on the evidence of Home Office forensic scientist Frank Skuse, who told
the trial that the men had handled nitroglycerine.
In 1985, a television programme revealed that the solvent Skuse had
used in the test for nitroglycerine, 1 per cent caustic soda, would also
have produced a positive result if the men had handled nitrocellulose. Skuse
did not keep notes of his tests, and the Home Office retired him days after
the TV programme.
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At the men鈥檚 first appeal hearing in 1987, Skuse said he used a 0.1
per cent solution of caustic soda, which would not dissolve nitrocellulose,
but which would also reduce the sensitivity of the test for nitroglycerine.
In September 1990 a Home Office review concluded that there was no forensic
evidence against the six. Last week the Director of Public Prosecutions
formally told the men鈥檚 second appeal court hearing that he was not going
to rely on the scientific evidence.
The case against the six now depends on confessions. Scientific evidence
shows that some of these have been altered.