Our Views
We are totally convinced that Thompson impaled himself in his frenzied attack upon Paul through the broken window and that Thompson went quiet and moved away from the window only because at that precise moment Thompson impaled himself on the shard of glass, the shock made him fall silent and back away from the window to the other side of the kitchen in a state of shock. Paul then began to throw glass in to the kitchen, gingerly and then with some urgency as he realised that something was terribly wrong as Thompson had become silent and not aggressive as he had been some moments before..
The Police Officer D.S. 72 Maher, states clearly in his interview with Paginton on the 1st March 1997 that “…it is nigh on impossible, and I use the word impossible, for that injury to be caused, in the way that you say you were throwing the glass.
So, we have it on record that the interviewing Police officer finds it impossible to believe that Thompson could have met his demise by Paginton throwing glass through the window! Paginton, confused, frightened and in a state of shock himself, grasped the opportunity that this was how Thompson had met his end, by accident.
The very thought was sewn into Pauls mind as the only explanation as he knew that he had not “stabbed” Thompson with a shard of glass. Again, this is backed up by Dr Kenneth Shute in his statement and testimony.
There was evidence that blood was found on the bottom of the window frame. I believe what happened was that when Thompson impaled himself on the shard of glass , [JAW4] some blood was deposited, he then grabbed at the wound with his left hand, which was cut in the process [autopsy report states that the left hand was cut] and would have been awkward to grab with the right hand [no evidence of cut/s], he then stepped back from the window, snapping [JAW4] away from [JAW29] pulled out the shard of glass and dropped it on the floor near to the washing machine. This then caused blood to spurt [see forensic & S.O.C.O. reports].
He then called out “Oh Pag” made it to the passage and collapsed onto the floor and came to rest against the front door.
Paginton in the meantime is pulling out glass and throwing it in to the kitchen area, hears his friend call his name, realises that something is wrong and frantically removes what glass he can and launches himself through the window into the kitchen and finds his friend bleeding to death.
That is a more acceptable scenario and, in my opinion, should have been advanced by the defence team. I feel that, had the jury been given that option, Paul Paginton would never have been convicted of a murder that was no more than a tragic accident, for that is our opinion, based on what we know, what we have read, what we have been told by forensic experts, that a tragic accident was ALL it was.
Should a person have to serve a life sentence for a crime they did not commit? For a “crime” that was so obvious an accident?
NO, but that is what has happened in this case.
It is both tragic & sad that a young man should have his life ended in such a way.
We feel sad ourselves that this has happened to Matthew and sad for his family. Who no longer have him. Our thoughts are with them and we are forever mindful of that.
I am indeed lucky in that I knew both Matthew and Paul very well and knew also of their very close, brotherly like friendship, but I taken a step away from my personal knowledge of them both and detached myself from them all in order to give an unbiased opinion and to look at the whole story without any clouded or preconceived judgments.
I also know that neither would deliberately hurt each other and I know for a fact that neither would want, or attempt to kill the other.
We all say things when we lose our temper which are more often than not, throw away remarks hurled in the heat of the moment.
Things like “ I’ll kill him/her” – “I’ll swing for him/her”--- “I’ll do time for them”---“ I’ll beat him to a pulp”---“He/She will wish they had never been born by the time I’ve finished with them”
Throw away comments we have all said at some time or another in the heat of the moment, but never actually meant to be taken literally. It is under circumstances as in this case, that these throw away comments are taken seriously, even though they were not meant as such.
Given the nature of their friendship, I would suggest that no creedence should be given to comments of this kind.
If 2 people are known to hate each other, then more significance can be attached to comments of this nature.
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Keith Protheroe
[Pendragon U.K.]