Crime and punishment

1932: Iain Hay Gordon is born in Stirlingshire, Scotland.

Patricia Curran is born in Belfast.

The Curran family move to Whiteabbey, a village near Belfast. Lancelot Curran becomes the youngest ever attorney general for Northern Ireland.

Iain Hay Gordon is posted to the RAF base of Edenmore, a mile from Whiteabbey, as part of his national service.

November 13th, 1952: The body of 19-year-old Patricia Curran is found just after 2 a.m. in the grounds of her parents' house.

January 13th, 1953: Gordon is called to his first interview with police. He is subjected to three days of almost continuous interrogation and two days' later signs a confession to the murder of Patricia Curran.

March 2nd, 1953: Gordon's trial opens. He pleads not guilty.

March 8th, 1953: Gordon is found guilty but insane and is sentenced to be detained at her majesty's pleasure. He is placed in Holywell Mental Hospital in Antrim.

Gordon is released and returns to Glasgow, where he obtains a job as a stockroom assistant in the warehouses of W.H. Collins and Sons, publishers, under the name John Gordon.

Ludovic Kennedy records an interview with Gordon, but the BBC bows to political pressure in Northern Ireland, and it is never broadcast.

Gordon retires.

January, 1998: The Criminal Cases Review Commission is presented evidence by Gordon's campaign team that he was the victim of a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

July, 1999: Following a change in the law which allows the case to be examined, the Commission announces the launch of a fresh inquiry.