In this statement, Lowson described how he had met Raffle. He went on to mention that Raffle often had quite
large sums of cash in his pocket. He stated that Raffle was greedy and involved in a number of illegal
activities, mentioning a number of deals, and that he himself, though unemployed, often dealt in hundreds of
pounds.
Raffle, he said, was making large sums of money through cars and caravans. Lowson said that on Saturday
December 14th 1985, he visited Raffle's yard and saw a pale blue Ford Orion that carried a 'B' registration
plate. He said he was absolutely certain of this, having sat inside the car. He saw that the vehicle appeared
to be brand new with a very low mileage. He said the yard itself was empty and the vehicle unattended.
Lowson went on to state that on the following day, Sunday, he visited Raffle's yard again, at 5 p.m. He spoke
to Raffle who seemed to be happy, healthy and unworried. Also present was Alexander McKenzie. There was no
mention of any other vehicle or person being in the yard at that time.
Lowson continued by saying that on February 6th 1986, he was approached and threatened by a man called Glenn
Miller. (Miller is a butcher whose premises were situated in Backworth, near Shiremoor). Lowson alleged that
Miller threatened him, telling him to keep his mouth shut over the Raffle murder or he would find himself
next on the list. (This appears to have been ignored by the police.)
Shortly after making this police statement, Lowson was driving his lorry through Whitley Bay when he
failed to stop for red lights at a pedestrian crossing, knocking down a young mother and her child. The child
was killed outright and the mother very seriously injured. While under arrest for this incident, Lowson made
a second statement.
Lowson's Second Statement (Date?)
As in the first statement, Lowson said that on Saturday December 14th 1985 he went to Raffle's yard at 11am.
This time, however, he stated that the car he saw carrying a 'B' registration plate was a blue Ford Sierra.
(He said he had got confused because a man he knew called Kerry Burke had a red Sierra.) The car looked new,
with a low mileage. The car was not locked and so Lowson had a look inside and saw that the car had a radio
cassette fitted. (There had been no mention of a radio cassette in his first statement.) There was nobody in
the yard or caravan and the car was unattended. Lowson left the yard.
He stated that he returned to the yard later in the afternoon, and that the car had gone and Raffle was not
there. Lowson said that he had discussed the car later with McKenzie, telling him that the car was blue. He
then stated that when he had said Orion in his first statement he had meant Sierra.
For causing the death of the child and the injuries to the mother, Lowson was eventually charged with
driving without due care and attention. Lowson failed to tell the police about an incident a year earlier
when he had been beaten up by Frank because of threats Lowson had been making against Raffle.