AFTER Abdul Ahmed, the only other eyewitness to the incident (apart from those directly involved) was Sally Palmer, a respectable, English, middle-aged paediatric physiotherapist (a children’s physio). Palmer is believed to be her maiden name, as she was granted anonymity by police under the special measures law.

She was driving a small silver Renault Modus – a courtesy car, while her own vehicle was in for garage repairs – and on her way to visit her mother for lunch. She often used Perth Road as a short-cut and knew the road and this area well.

The small size of her car is hugely significant when considering Ahmed’s evidence, although no-one picked up on this during the police inquiry, at trial or at Jason Moore’s first appeal. Ahmed stated that the stabber was the passenger in a “small silver car – like a Ford Focus.” While he is, of course, not suggesting that Palmer was the stabber, the positioning of the three cars – hers and those driven by Darby and ***** – muddy the waters and, we believe, create confusion as to where *****, Hunt and Moore emerged from.

Palmer had reached the one-way section towards the end of Perth Road when, up ahead, she saw Darby’s black BMW parked in the middle of the street. It was, she stated, facing in the same direction as she was travelling – ie, facing towards Gants Hill roundabout.

A few feet in front of the black BMW she saw three white men arguing. Male 1 (Darby) was facing her, while two other men (Males 2 and 3) had their backs to her.

With the car blocking the middle of the road, she had to slow down and negotiate her way around it, which meant turning slightly to her right. There was enough room to pass the BMW because no other cars were parked on the right-hand side of that section of road.

It was raining, her front windscreen wipers were on and both side windows were up. And the fact that she was listening to Heart FM radio meant she couldn’t hear what was being said by the three men. She did, though, get the impression it was a hostile, "road-rage-type" situation.

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What Sally Palmer said she did and didn’t see
Based on her police witness interviews and statements, and trial evidence
 

She saw
 

* Male 1 (Darby) was facing her. He was about 5ft 10ins, brown hair, in white shirt and dark trousers.

* Male 2 (we believe it to be *****) was on the right of the two men who had their backs to her and was the taller of the two – about same height as Darby, 5ft 10ins, or maybe an inch taller. 

* Male 2 (*****) was "bigger build", "stockier" and "wider" than the slimmer Male 1 (Darby).

* Males 2 (*****) and 3 (Hunt) were both wearing "dark-ish, casual clothes".

* Male 2 (*****) wore navy or dark zip-up jacket with dark bottoms.

* Male 3 (we believe it to be Hunt), about 5ft 9ins, medium build, brown hair, lighter jacket, "perhaps grey or something rather than black". (Her second police interview, 8/9/2005.)

* Male 2 (*****) was more dominant . . . must have been larger (than Hunt) . . . pushing or using force, like a crowding.

* Male 1 (Darby) being pushed or shoved by one or two men.

* Males 2 (*****) and 3 (Hunt) turning away from her (as she passed them in her car) and "running back in the opposite direction".

* Reckons she was about six-feet away from the three men as she drove past them.

* Couldn't hear what was being shouted because she had her windows up and radio on. Said she saw Male 1 (Darby) mouthing something – thought it was some sort of road-rage incident.

* As she manoeuvred around Darby’s car, he turned to his right and then ran towards the pub car park, where he collapsed.

Palmer parked just past The Valentine pub, on the left, to dial 999 and she ducked down below the dashboard while speaking to the emergency services operator.

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She . . .      
 

* Did not see anyone resembling Jason Moore’s height of 6ft 5ins.

* Did not see where any of the three men came from (they were already out of the cars and standing in the road when she first saw them).

* Could not remember whether Darby's car door was open or closed.

* Did not notice any passengers in Darby's car (adds weight to our theory that Hunt was out of the black BMW during the stabbing incident).

* Did not see *****s silver BMW with black roof parked against the nearside kerb, to her left. 

* Did not see Darby's Stanley knife, or any other weapon. She didn't see Darby's hands.

* Did not see Darby strike ***** with the blunt end of his Stanley knife.

* Did not notice Moore run after Darby, towards the pub, just after the stabbing.

* Did not see Hunt move Darby's car off the road and into the pub car park. "When I looked back it had gone".

* Did not notice anyone else around, be it Ahmed or any other witnesses.

* Did not pick out ***** or Jason from two video ID parades she attended.

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Sally Palmer had the closest view of the incident but, inevitably, she couldn’t possibly have seen everything that happened because she had to look ahead of her while manoeuvring around and past Darby’s parked car.

Crucially, her descriptions of the three men in the street appear very accurate – even allowing for her estimated difference in height of Male 3 (Hunt) – “about 5ft 9ins” instead of his actual height of 5ft 6ins. As Hunt was the least active of the two males with their backs to her, it makes sense that she was more focused on ***** and Darby.

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According to Sally's testimony, it is impossible that Abdul Ahmed saw two men get out of a silver car, as there was only her silver vehicle and Darby's black BMW in the street.

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Sally, like Ahmed, gave her court evidence from behind a screen, so she was unable to view Jason Moore 'in the flesh' and put his height in context.

If Sally – or someone who knows her – is reading this, we would strongly urge her to take a look at the CCTV video clip of Jason about to leave his home on the morning of the stabbing and ask herself: ‘is this 6ft 5ins tall man one of the three I saw in Perth Road that day?’ Her reaction could greatly assist in Jason's conviction being quashed . . .