Eight former officers on trial for conspiring to build a false case against Stephen Miller in 1988 Cardiff murder of Lynette White

This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

A man wrongly jailed for the murder of his girlfriend broke down in tears in court as he described the "nightmare" he had lived in the 22 years since he was arrested over the killing.

Stephen Miller, one of three men imprisoned for the murder of Lynette White, sobbed as he gave evidence at the trial of eight former police officers accused of conspiring to build a false case against him and two other men.

Miller once again insisted that he had not seen 20-year-old White, who was working as a prostitute, on the weekend she was stabbed to death.

He told Swansea crown court on Wednesday that he had not even known of the existence of the squalid flat in Cardiff where White took clients and where her body was found in February 1988.

Miller broke down in tears as he recalled the moment police told him his girlfriend had been killed. "I was in a daze, a nightmarish daze," he said.

"One moment I'm speaking to her, the next she's dead."

He told how he had gone from being a witness to a suspect. "It went pear-shaped," he said. "I've been dealing with this nightmare for 22 years."

Miller and his friends, Yusef Abdullahi and Tony Paris, were jailed in 1990 over the murder of White, 20, before being freed on appeal two years later. The men were dubbed the Cardiff Three, and their case came to be seen as one of the most notorious miscarriages of justice in recent years.

Another man, Jeffrey Gafoor, was later convicted of killing White alone and is in jail serving a life sentence for her murder.

The jury at Swansea has heard that South Wales police officers were under huge pressure to solve White's murder and leading detectives in the case became convinced that Miller, Abdullahi, Paris and two other men, were behind the killing.

It is alleged that the officers manipulated evidence against the suspects and put pressure on witnesses to tailor their stories to match their belief of the men's guilt.

Miller, now 44, admitted he had a criminal record. As a teenager he was convicted of grievous bodily harm and when he was in his early 20s sold cannabis in Cardiff to supplement his income.

However he denied he was White's "pimp" and said they argued over her work.

He wanted her to stop but she thought of it as an easy way to make money.

Miller told the court that he had moved to Cardiff from London and was known as "Pineapple" in the city's dock area where he and White lived because he wore his dreadlocks in a top knot and drank pineapple juice.

He told the court he had not seen White for some days before her body was discovered and had been searching for her.

Miller said that when police told him that White had been murdered he felt as if "someone had got a hammer and smashed it across my face", adding: "I burst out crying."

He said he had co-operated with police, handing over his clothes and saying he was prepared to give a sample of his DNA. Miller said he felt "crushed", adding: "One minute you're with someone you love. Then they disappear."

Miller was arrested over White's murder in December 1988. Nick Dean QC, prosecuting, has said of the police questioning: "Short of physical violence, it is hard to imagine a more hostile and intimidating approach."

Miller said he would remember how he was treated until he went to his grave.

Former South Wales police officers Graham Mouncher, Richard Powell, Thomas Page, Michael Daniels, Paul Jennings, Paul Stephen, Peter Greenwood and John Seaford deny conspiring to pervert the course of justice. In addition Mouncher denies lying under oath in court.

The trial continues.