Alan Raffle went missing on l5th December 1985. His body was found seven weeks later (early February 1985) in Kielder Forest, Northumberland. Raffle's father was taken to identify the body but found this difficult because of the decomposed condition of the body and the fact that animals had been at it. Identification largely depended, therefore, on fingerprint comparison.
On pathological examination, it was determined that Raffle had been murdered by blows to the head from a blunt instrument. Some thirty yards away from the body, and hidden or thrown amongst some trees, a ball-pein hammer was found. Subsequent forensic tests showed the hammer to have hairs of human origin adhering to it. Bloodstaining was found on the hammer, and the size of its head suggested it could have inflicted some of the five head wounds. The human hair could have originated from the head of the dead man. The bloodstaining was human but of insufficient quantity to group.
Three months after the disappearance of Raffle, on Sunday March 9th 1986, two men were arrested by North Shields Police on an unrelated charge of aggravated burglary and assault.
These two men were later charged with the murder of Alan Raffle. Both men knew the deceased and had worked with him in the past. The two men were Frank Wilkinson and Edward Wood.

Who was Alan Raffle?

Alan Raffle was a young man of twenty-three when he disappeared. He lived alone in a 22- foot caravan on his allotment-cum-yard-cum-stables in the village of New York, North Shields, Tyne and Wear. He was a wheeler-dealer who lived and earned his money by any means available to him, usually illegal. He knew and associated with many men of the same outlook and lifestyle, took many risks in his daily life and, as a consequence, often made enemies.

How was Frank involved with Alan Raffle?

Frank was released from prison, where he had been on remand for armed robbery, in October 1983. Just before Christmas, he went to live with a woman, Ann (whose brother - Edward Wood - he had met while in prison) in New York village. Frank took on the full responsibility of the whole family - Ann and her three teenage sons. For work, Frank became a scrap metal dealer who, among other things, would always help his mates pass on their stolen cars by providing number plates etc.
Early in 1984, Frank was introduced to Alan Raffle and they soon became friends, both in business matters and socially. They worked together from time to time, perhaps a couple of times a week, on various enterprises - scrap iron, hay, buying and selling cars, trailers, horse boxes, caravans, solid fuels and so on.
Frank could often be found at Raffle's caravan where he would sit with Raffle and, over a cup of tea, the two men would discuss their current business deals. Sometimes Raffle would go to Frank's home where they would sit and chat. In short, there was a great deal of contact between the two.
There were occasional tiffs between the men because they were often trying to do each other down in deals over the sales of various items. These arguments were always settled amicably and never at any time did it come to blows between them. The worst argument between them occurred in the spring of 1985 when Raffle stole a twin-wheeled trailer from outside Frank's home and then sold the trailer to a Mr Gary Annis, the proprietor and owner of the Brookland Saddlery, also in New York. This affair was resolved when Raffle paid Frank the money he had received from Annis as compensation for the trailer.

Who was Edward Wood?

Edward Wood was the brother of Frank's partner, Ann Ornsby-Wilkinson. Eddie was very often in trouble with the police but had been heard to say he could get away with anything as he had a friend in the police.
In 1976 Eddie and another man called Ernie Dale were arrested for the illegal scuttling of a trawler in the North Sea and were subsequently charged with defrauding the insurance company. The captain and owner were also arrested and charged. One of the police involved in this case was a Mr Keith Atkinson, and it was this officer who was instrumental in obtaining Eddie's confession and persuading him to implicate the trawler owner and captain.
In the subsequent trial, Eddie pleaded not guilty, even though he had made a full confession. Against all the odds he was acquitted.
In some ways, this trial in 1976 can be seen as a rehearsal for the trial of Frank and Eddie for the murder of Alan Raffle in 1986:

How was Frank involved with Edward Wood?

Frank and Eddie met in prison while Eddie was on remand for the above-mentioned insurance fraud and blackmail and Frank was on remand for armed robbery. They subsequently served prison terms together and, when Frank was released in October 1983, Eddie still had over a year of his current sentence to serve.
Outside, Eddie lived with a woman called Brenda McMillan who lived nearby to Ann and Frank. Frank would regularly drive Ann and Brenda over to Preston prison to visit Eddie while he himself visited another friend inside. He also helped to take care of Brenda McMillan and saw that she wasn't in need. In 1985 Eddie was released from prison and Frank, Ann and Brenda McMillan drove down to Preston prison to fetch him home.
Frank took Eddie to work with him at Ann's request, as she wanted Frank to "look after" her brother and keep him out of trouble. Frank introduced Eddie to Raffle and the two men very quickly got together to earn money, both being on the make. Their main source of illegal money was the theft and resale of cars. Eddie would steal the cars, Frank would supply the registration numbers, and sometimes plates and documents, and Raffle would sell the vehicles with the new registrations: "ringers", as they were called. Frank did not receive a share of this enterprise: he would only get a fixed amount to cover his time and the small risk he was taking.

Raffle's disappearance

On the last weekend on which he was seen, December 14th/15th 1985, a few mates were visiting Raffle's yard. The men were all involved to some extent with the theft of a new blue Ford Sierra from the security compound of a nearby garage. (This was the car alleged to have been used to transport Raffle to Kielder forest.) Frank was fitting number plates with Eddie, Raffle was fitting a cassette player and the others visiting to have a recce.
On the Sunday, in a local pub, friends of Raffle recall that he was called to the phone during lunch and came back looking white and shaken - as though he had been threatened. Later in the day he was seen having a drink with Frank and Eddie and they were all laughing together and enjoying themselves.
On the Sunday evening, when Frank and Eddie had finished their business with the car, they both went back to Frank's place and had a drink together. Eddie told Frank that Raffle owed him money and he needed it badly; he wanted to go after him for it. Frank told him he was too drunk, he should get to bed. When Eddie left to go home at about 11pm, Frank declined to go with him.
The official line is that Alan Raffle was not seen alive since, although there were witnesses who claimed to have seen him after that Sunday.

Circumstances of Alan Raffle's death as given at the trial

It was alleged that, on the night of December 15th 1985, Alan Raffle was lured into a stolen Ford Sierra car by Frank Wilkinson and Edward Wood. He was then taken to Kielder Forest in Northumberland, where he was hit with a ball-pein hammer four or five times on the head and his body left there.

Why was Frank arrested?

Frank Wilkinson and Edward Wood were both arrested early on Sunday morning March 9th 1986 in connection with an alleged assault on a man called Alexander Armstrong. Armstrong later told the lawyer Clive Hindle that the police had made him say that Frank had threatened him with "being beaten up in the Kielder Forest". This statement was later withdrawn and was not used in the subsequent murder trial. Because they knew of their frequent association with Alan Raffle, the police did, however, make use of this alleged assault (which had been minor and indeed was not used in court) to question both Frank and, in particular, Wood about Raffle's murder.

What was the evidence against him?

Frank knew Alan Raffle well and often worked with him in various capacities, such as scrap dealing and car ringing. Consequently, there was a great deal of contact between the two men. Forensic investigation found some fibre evidence of contact with the dead man's clothing and the murder weapon (which was a hammer, most probably Frank's and on loan to Wood at the time). The presence of these fibres was entirely as expected given their frequent contact and their recent work together that weekend on the Sierra. There were tools belonging to Frank (also on loan to Wood at the time) found in the Sierra and a bloodstained pine needle on the car's carpet. There was some dubious interpretation of Frank's behaviour while under surveillance by the police to the effect that Frank had made an abortive trip to retrieve the murder weapon when clearly aware that he was being followed.
All the evidence was inconclusive. There was no evidence of any bloodstaining on any of Frank's clothing. There was no evidence that he had ever been inside the Sierra. There was no suggestion of any motive.
At the trial, probably the most telling factors against Frank had nothing to do with the evidence presented at all, but were these:

What was Frank's defence?

As a career criminal, Frank simply did what he had always done when arrested: he acted in a bolshie manner, said it had nothing to do with him and refused to cooperate with the police. Not the greatest defence in the world, but he felt that, as he had not committed the murder, then he could not be convicted. He was wrong. His only alibi for the night of December 15th 1985 was that he was home when four other people in the house went to sleep and he was still there when they got up in the morning.

What happened to Frank's appeal?

On May 13th 1987 an appeal was lodged with the Court of Appeal on the following grounds:
  1. The Foreman of the Jury should have been dismissed, as it became known that his mother was a best friend of the victim's mother.
  2. A severance of the trial, between Frank Wilkinson and Edward Wood, should have been granted on the grounds that it was an exceptional case.
  3. The evidence against Frank Wilkinson was purely circumstantial.
  4. The trial judge misdirected the jury in several respects:
    • There was misdirection in respect of the co-accused's self-serving admissions.
    • There were misdirections re warnings about actions.
    • The judge did not instruct the jury to ignore Wood's final address from the dock. (This address took the form of a statement of alleged fact despite Wood having been expressly warned against doing this.)
Frank appeared before the Court of Appeal on February 29th 1988 and his appeal against conviction was refused on the grounds, amongst others, that the court was tired of "frivolous" appeals.

What developments have there been since the appeal?

Current situation

Now 63 years old, and after more than 23 years in prison, Frank was finally downgraded to Category B in July 2009. He is now looking to move to a prison out of the High Security estate and start on the road to release. The Prison Service, having previously considered that there was no "real" evidence that his risk to the public should he escape had been sufficiently reduced to warrant a lower security category, suddenly changed its mind only after losing an appeal against a Judicial Review in Frank's favour. In fact, having spent the first 10 years or so fighting the system in every way he could, Frank is now more a model prisoner than the problem prisoner he undoubtedly once was. But he refuses to partake in any of the so-called "Offending Behaviour" courses that are recommended to him, and these are seemingly the only measure of risk reduction acceptable to the Prison Service. Frank's unfailingly good behaviour, his impressive educational achievements (he has a BA, an MA and a PhD), his good influence on other, usually younger, prisoners, the good reports written on him by those in the Prison Service and the Probation Service who actually know him (rather than those who write reports from other reports) - none of these was considered as "real" evidence of the profound change that has indeed taken place in Frank. He is not a murderer, but he was a career criminal. These days, his thoughtful, reflective attitude to life in general and his personal experience in particular are always insightful and often impressively even-handed. Of all those involved in this story of a miscarriage of justice, no one comes out of it as well as he does.