Statement from Paul Paginton (1999)
I was educated at St Julian's Comprehensive School, Newport. I left that school at the
start of the fourth year. I was about 15 years old at the time. I did not take any formal
state examination. I had been offered a job at a silk screen printers and I had decided to
take up that employment. The only school exams that I took were end of year
examinations. I do not have any formal qualifications or time served trade.
I knew Matthew Thompson as a fellow pupil at St Julian's school. Matthew was slightly
older than me. As I recall we had first become friends when I was about 10 or 11 years
of age.
Sometime in or about the summer of 1996, Matthew Thompson and my sister, Cindy,
became boyfriend and girlfriend and went out together. During this relationship, my
sister, Cindy, moved into a property known as 8 Cormorant Way, Newport. Although
Matthew Thompson had stayed on a number of occasions with Cindy at her previous
address, both she and Matthew Thompson effectively lived at 8 Cormorant Way a5
partners. I used to go to visit them regularly there and on quite a number of occasions
I would stay with my sister and Matthew at 8 Cormorant Way.
On Friday 28 February 1997, myself and Matthew Thompson left 8 Cormorant Way in
or about lunchtime. A mutual friend, Mr Mark Pontin, called to the house and we
travelled together with him in his car, intending to go to a public house in Cwmbran. En
route to Cwmbran, Mr Pontin first called to the home of his girlfriend and there we
picked up another passenger, a Mr Evans. As I recall we then travelled together to Mister Q's. There we consumed a number of drinks and played pool. Later that afternoon we returned to Newport, initially returning to Mark Pontin's girlfriend's house (at which he also lived) and latterly we arrived back at 8 Cormorant Way.
By late afternoon myself and my sister, Cindy, were due to attend at the Leisure Centre
where my brother was due to receive an award because of his involvement in sport.
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