Black History Wales - Reflection Series - John Actie

I AM Wales Podcast

Reflecting on Black History Wales, the BOMB is in conversation with John Actie, who's name will go down in history as part of the Cardiff five and Britain's biggest miscarriage of justice.
This podcast proceeds the BBC's documentary entitled " A Killing in Tiger Bay" which sheds light on the brutal murder of Lynette White in 1988. Finally the public get to see and hear the full story, not just from the perspective of the trail and subsequent wrongful arrests, but from the human side of who one of the Cardiff five are.
John Actie, born in Cardiff Docklands, was later raised in a predominately white area with his 6 siblings. Having lost his father to cancer at the age of 11, Johns 32 year old mother, soldiered on and raised 7 children single handily. Here John humorously reflects on memories of his father and how his fair but firm discipline was missed after his passing. Crippled by grief, John naturally began to "get into trouble" and later as a teenager, grew a healthy head of dreadlocks. John believes that his appearance and reputation bought him unwanted and often unwarranted attention by the police, which would later impact of his life in a petrifying way.
After 33 years of this story dominating his life, the now 60 year old, believes that it is his time to set the record straight. In this podcast you will get to know the person behind the name and the heart behind the man.
This recoding, is dedicated to Mahood Hussein Mattan 1923-1952, the last man wrongfully hanged in Cardiff prison for a crime he too, did not commit. R.I.P - this is Black History Wales.