Killer who always said he was innocent

Winston Silcott's imprisonment has become a

He was cleared by the Court of Appeal in 1991 of killing Pc Keith Blakelock during the 1985 Broadwater Farm riots and the Metropolitan Police was forced to award him £50,000 in damages for wrongful conviction.

The decision was taken after the court accepted that a witness statement he signed allegedly confessing was falsified.

But Silcott, who is now 42, remained in jail after being convicted of a second murder, stabbing to death amateur boxer Anthony Smith at a party.

He has now served 16 years since he was jailed for life in 1986 for the 1984 killing, two years longer than the tariff set by his trial judge.

Friends and campaigners claim Silcott was set up by the police over Pc Blakelock's murder after he had become a thorn in their side during his time as a member of the Farm Youth Association, when he would attend meetings of the Haringey council police sub-committee and voice the complaints of young blacks.

Police claimed there were 14 separate witnesses who said Silcott hacked Pc Blakelock to death. No one has ever been convicted of the officer's murder.

Of his murder conviction, Silcott says he stabbed Anthony Smith in self-defence and will not apologise for the crime. He points out he had been allowed out of jail on bail for Smith's murder when Pc Blakelock was killed and that the high-profile trial made it impossible for him to have had a fair hearing when he was later sentenced for killing Smith.

Although he has a criminal record stretching back to the age of 14 Silcott's supporters claim he is a reformed character, has been through courses on anger management and strategic thinking, and does not pose a risk to the public.

Silcott had previously been to Borstal and been cleared of a second fatal stabbing at a party as well as being convicted of possessing an offensive weapon.

He still wants his conviction overturned for murdering Smith a violent 22-year-old gangster.

He said recently: "If they want to keep me in prison until my dying day, they can. My family and friends just want me out - but I will never do anything that is an admission of guilt."

During his time in jail Silcott earned a reputation as a fitness freak. He spends hours reading, listening to music and writing poetry. He plays backgammon, dominoes and draughts and keeps fit playing football and badminton. He works as a kitchen hand.

Silcott has always denied being involved in the riots, which started when local woman Cynthia Jarrett died of a heart attack after a police raid on her home.

Speaking of Pc Blakelock's murder for the first time since being jailed, he said recently: "What happened to him was sad - really sad. It was a terrible night and it should never have happened. I am genuinely sorry that he was killed. But what happened to Cynthia Jarrett is also sad. I knew her and her kids. But you don't hear everyone still talking about that and no police have been to jail over it."

And he claims: "A lot of people think I was cleared of his murder on a technicality. But there was never any evidence to convict me ... I did not see what happened to Pc Blakelock and don't know who killed him."