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the latest show |  | Lip
reading has the ability to turn video footage into convincing evidence, but there
are continuing questions about its reliability | Lip
reading evidence |
Lip reading * Imagine
you know someone whoÂ’s in trouble. You go to see them but without
your knowledge, you're being filmed. Then you end up in jail yourself, facing
serious criminal charges. CanÂ’t happen very often, can it?
YouÂ’d
be surprised.
WeÂ’ve found three cases where thatÂ’s exactly what
happened. And they’ve all got something in common – lip reading
evidence. Protected witness For more than ten years, Jessica
Rees has been the country’s leading expert lipreader – but the accuracy
of the evidence in three of her cases is under dispute.  | | Glenn
Lucas - accused in a lip-reading case |
We canÂ’t show you
her face, because sheÂ’s a protected witness. Back in 2006,
we told how Glenn Lucas, from Lincolnshire, was charged with conspiracy.
After he was filmed visiting a friend in prison, Jessica Rees claimed theyÂ’d
been talking about disposing of a body. Eventually, all charges
against Glenn were dropped but, back with his wife and family, he was still fighting
to clear his name. WeÂ’ve found disturbing new evidence about
two other cases involving lipreading evidence. The Bill Mara case
Rumel Bakar had been murdered - it was a gruesome case.
HeÂ’d
been dismembered, and parts of his body were buried in three different counties.
Police soon found the murderer, William Wharton, a convicted drug dealer.
He had an accomplice, Mark Falco, who helped him get rid of the body.  | | Rumel
Bakar - the murder victim. Photo PA Images. |
Both men were
convicted – but they weren’t the only ones who ended up in prison.
Bill Mara is Mark FalcoÂ’s brother-in-law. HeÂ’s a teacher
in Lincoln, and heÂ’d never been in serious trouble with the law. One
morning, he got an unexpected visit from the police. TheyÂ’d
got a search warrant – and they were looking for blood and body parts.
Then Bill found out why heÂ’d been arrested. It was because
heÂ’d visited his brother-in-law in Lincoln Prison eight months before. Bill
and his wife were looking after FalcoÂ’s children while he was inside.
As well as Bill, two other men were visiting Falco that day. One
of them doesnÂ’t want to be identified. The other was Martin Barlow,
who knew Falco because they were both interested in fishing. Reading a
conversation So what were they talking about? For Bill Mara
and Martin Barlow it was a normal conversation. But the video had
been sent to expert lipreader Jessica Rees, whoÂ’d made a partial transcript.
In Jessica Rees's version, the men were having a detailed conversation
about the dismembering and disposal of a body.
The two men couldnÂ’t
believe what they were hearing.  | | Bill
Mara - subject of a lip-reading conversation |
It looked like
compelling evidence - but soon there were doubts - the video was shot at just
four frames per second, less than a fifth of the normal speed. Bill MaraÂ’s
defence team wondered - how could Jessica Rees be so sure? Jessica
Rees, though, is acknowledged as the best in her field, lip-reading conversations
without background knowledge of the people involved. In one recent test,
she achieved an accuracy rate of more than 90 per cent. SheÂ’s often
been able to lip-read footage other lip-readers canÂ’t work with. In
Bill MaraÂ’s case, her partial transcript was backed by a leading independent
expert. The Kenyon case Susan Bowen and Graham Kenyon were
suspected of murdering Susan BowenÂ’s husband. They were filmed meeting
each other in prison. A partial transcript from Jessica Rees suggested
they were both involved in the killing. In Jessica ReesÂ’s version,
Kenyon threatens to kill a teenage girl who witnessed him committing the murder.
 | | Susan
Bowen - shown here on camera footage |
Bowen doesnÂ’t seem
surprised by what he says. They say they only talked about family
and friends. TheyÂ’ve always denied the killing and say their defence
was hampered by the lip reading evidence. Just before their trial,
there was a surprise for the defence – a poor quality audio recording of
one of their visits existed. On the face of it, the audio contradicted
Jessica ReesÂ’s transcript. But doubts were later raised about the
way in which the audio material was obtained resulting in both the audio and the
lip reading evidence being dropped. Bowen and Kenyon were subsequently
convicted of murder on the basis of other evidence. Audio evidence
The audio was poor quality. But it raised questions about how the two transcripts
could be so different. In two letters to the police, Jessica Rees acknowledged
the difficulties of her job She says that, at one point, sheÂ’d
"completely failed to grasp the gist of the conversation", and that
sheÂ’d been at fault for taking on too much work: "I
can only apologise for this as I was genuinely unaware then of the dangers of
trying to stretch myself too thinly however obvious it may look now."
All the charges against Bill Mara were dropped - but he still wants to
clear his name. The Rees case Bill Mara isnÂ’t the only
one. We visit the home of Glenn Lucas, accused in another case involving
Jessica Rees. He'd been charged with conspiracy after visiting a friend
in prison and, according to Jessica Rees' lipreading transcript, talking about
disposing of a body. Police said this evidence, along with previous information
they had, led to Glenn being charged. Eventually, the case against Glenn
was dropped because one of his co-defendants turned Queen's Evidence during the
trial and testified that another man had acted alone in arranging the murder. GlennÂ’s
son Andrew is two-years-old. Sadly, his father isnÂ’t here to see him. Glenn
died because of a blood clot in his heart.
His Russian wife Maya says
heÂ’d been determined to prove his innocence. Jessica Rees didnÂ’t
want to take part in this film, but she stands by her work in all three cases.
Lip reading has the ability to turn video footage into convincing
evidence, but there are continuing questions about its reliability and whether
it should used on its own as evidence in court.
* This
story has been the subject of a complaint to Ofcom which was partially upheld.
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ÌýÌýInside
Out - Yorkshire & Lincolnshire: Friday January 26, 2007