Man wrongly jailed for murdering man raising money to restore his 'forgotten' grave

A man who was wrongly jailed for 11 years for murder is raising money to restore the grave of the man he was accused of killing.

Michael O'Brien was one of three men wrongly convicted of the 1987 murder of Cardiff newsagent Philip Saunders.

O'Brien, along with Darren Hall and Ellis Sherwood, became known as the Cardiff Newsagent Three. They were eventually cleared in 1999, in what became one of Wales' worst miscarriages of justice.

He said he recently visited Saunders' grave and was "sad" to see there was no longer a headstone there and the area was "unkempt."

"It just sort of hit home that one, the killer was still at large, and two, this man has largely been forgotten about," O'Brien said.

Saunders was killed with a shovel in his backyard. It seemed the ambush and brutal attack was an attempt to steal his day's takings.

In June, nearly 40 years on from the original crime, South Wales Police said they were launching a review of the evidence in the case, "in the hope advances in forensic science will provide the breakthrough needed".

O'Brien praised the police for how they were approaching the review.

"I cannot fault them for the efforts they're putting in to rectify, not only the wrongful conviction but also to find the real killer for Philip Saunders.

"This should have been a long time ago. Now, there's a real possibility we can find who did this."

On the night of 12 October 1987 Saunders finished work at about 21:30 and went for a pint at a pub on nearby St Mary Street.

Carrying his £500 takings, he then headed home to Anstee Court in the Canton area of the city.

But somebody was waiting for him - and he was brutally attacked and robbed of his earnings before being left for dead.

He was later found gravely injured outside his home.

Soon afterwards, investigating officers became convinced they had their men and the Cardiff Newsagent Three were all charged with murder and robbery before going on trial in June 1988.

Relying on a confession from Hall that he was on the lookout for a robbery that went wrong, the three were all found guilty.

Hall, 19, Sherwood, 19, and O'Brien, 20, were jailed for life.

But the men had their convictions quashed at the Court of Appeal in December 1999, where Hall was described as living a "Walter Mitty" fantasy life and showing some of the attributes of a pathological liar.

In 2022, O'Brien met Saunders' sister and nephew as part of a TV documentary, something which he said had "a profound effect" on him.

His recent trip to the grave to leave flowers spurred him on to try and raise money for a new headstone and give it to the family.

"I really feel for them - for the pain they've gone through," he said.

Despite never meeting Saunders, O'Brien said he was someone he had learnt a lot about over the years.

"I just want to do whatever I can, not only to catch the real killer, but also to remember Philip Saunders, because I think he deserves to be remembered," he said.

"He was a good guy - nobody's got a bad word to say about Mr Saunders - he was a hardworking man."

Saunders was previously described as "a loving brother and a caring uncle" by his brother Ted and sister-in-law Marge, who lamented the fact that he would not enjoy the retirement he had worked so hard for.

O'Brien has spent much of his life since his release campaigning for victims of miscarriages of justice.

Last year, he lost a legal challenge to reclaim money he was charged for bed and board during the 11 years he spent behind bars.

O'Brien received £692,900 in compensation in 2002, three years after his release, but then had £37,500 deducted from his compensation to cover "saved living expenses" while in prison.

The policy was scrapped in 2023 but the UK government said it would not be applied retrospectively.