GREAT BRITAIN GUILTY INNOCENT ONE NIGHT IN 1943, LONDON POLICE ON ROBBERY 
DETAIL STOPPED A SEEDY LITTLE MAN FOR ROUTINE QUESTIONING AND SEEMED 
TO HAVE STUMBLED ON THE SOLUTION OF A MURDER IN PORTSMOUTH, 
65 MILES AWAY . HAROLD LOUGHAN A BRASH HABITUAL CRIMINAL VOLUNTEERED 
THE INFORMATION THAT HE HAD CREPT INTO THE ROOMS ABOVE THE 
JOHN BARLEYCORN PUB THREE WEEKS BEFORE AND, IN COMMITTING A ROBBERY, 
HAD STRANGLED TO DEATH THE PUB'S OWNER, ROSE ROBINSON . " 
IT'S A RELIEF TO GET IT OFF MY MIND, " HE 
TOLD THE POLICE . " I DIDN'T MEAN TO KILL THE 
OLD GIRL, BUT YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS WHEN A WOMAN 
SCREAMS . " CONFESSION V . ALIBI . WHEN THE DETAILS 
OF THE CONFESSION CHECKED OUT IN PORTSMOUTH, LOUGHAN WAS CHARGED WITH 
MURDER . " I FELT CONFIDENT THAT I COULD NOT LOSE 
THE CASE EVEN IF I CONDUCTED IT STANDING ON MY HEAD, 
" RECALLS JOSHUA DAVID CASSWELL, WHO WAS THE PROSECUTOR IN THE 
COURT PROCEEDINGS THAT FOLLOWED . BUT TO CASSWELL'S CHAGRIN, LOUGHAN DISMISSED 
HIS CONFESSION AS THE KIND OF CASUAL LIE HE ENJOYED TELLING 
THE POLICE, CLAIMED HE SPENT THE NIGHT OF THE MURDER SHELTERED 
FROM THE BLITZ IN LONDON'S WARREN STREET SUBWAY STATION AND PRODUCED 
FIVE INDEPENDENT WITNESSES TO PROVE IT . " THIS IS THE 
MOST EXTRAORDINARY CASE I'VE EVER KNOWN, " SAID THE JUDGE . 
/ ON THE ONE HAND A FULL CONFESSION, AND ON THE 
OTHER AN UNSHAKABLE ALIBI . " THE JURY, EQUALLY PUZZLED, COULD 
NOT REACH A VERDICT . IN A RETRIAL, LOUGHAN WAS ACQUITTED 
. HE WAS STILL GLOATING WHEN ARRESTED ON THE STEPS OF 
OLD BAILEY FOR ANOTHER ROBBERY AND, AFTER HIS 24TH CONVICTION, SENT 
TO PRISON FOR SEVEN YEARS . THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN THE 
LAST ANYBODY HEARD OF LITTLE HAROLD LOUGHAN IF THE PEOPLE, A 
SENSATIONAL LONDON SUNDAY NEWSPAPER, HAD NOT PRINTED THE MEMOIRS OF PROSECUTOR 
CASSWELL . IN ONE INSTALLMENT, CASSWELL CLAIMED THAT HAROLD LOUGHAN WOULD 
HAVE BEEN CONVICTED IF ALL THE EVIDENCE HAD BEEN HEARD . 
LOUGHAN, NOW 66 AND IN JAIL AS USUAL, SUED FOR LIBEL, 
CLAIMING HE HAD BEEN CALLED A MURDERER DESPITE HIS OFFICIAL INNOCENCE 
. MURDER OR LIBEL . THE NEWSPAPER'S LAWYER ARGUED THAT EVEN 
IF THE ARTICLES DID AMOUNT TO CALLING LOUGHAN A MURDERER, TRUTH 
IS A DEFENSE AGAINST LIBEL, AND CASSWELL HAD FINALLY SHOWN THAT 
LOUGHAN HAD INDEED MURDERED ROSE ROBINSON 19 YEARS AGO . FOR 
ELEVEN DAYS THE JURY HEARD EVIDENCE OF THE OLD MURDER WITH 
LOUGHAN STILL PROTESTING HIS INNOCENCE . " YOU ARE ASKED TO 
TRY AGAIN A MURDER IN THE GUISE OF A LIBEL ACTION, 
" HIS LAWYER COMPLAINED TO THE JURY . LAST WEEK THE 
JURY RETURNED ITS VERDICT : THE PEOPLE WAS NOT GUILTY OF 
LIBEL BECAUSE LOUGHAN WAS GUILTY OF THE MURDER . LOUGHAN, OF 
COURSE, CANNOT BE TRIED AGAIN FOR THE SAME CRIME . IF 
THE JURY WAS CORRECT, HE HAD CHEATED THE GALLOWS . BUT 
THAT WAS LITTLE COMFORT TO HAROLD LOUGHAN . AFTER THE TRIAL 
HE WAS RETURNED TO THE PRISON HOSPITAL WHERE, AFTER SPENDING 23 
OF HIS 66 YEARS BEHIND BARS, HE AWAITS DEATH FROM INOPERABLE 
CANCER . 