Express & Star comment: Ugly head of botched Nunes case is back

It was 16 long years ago the 20-year-old was gunned down and his body discovered down a country lane in Pattingham.

Five years on the murder looked to have been solved, before four years later still five men jailed for murder had their convictions overturned by the courts.

It came out that a dossier showing detectives’ wrongdoing and the mishandling of a witness was not shown to the trial judge.

The report also painted a picture of a group of detectives who did not show trust in each other during the investigation.

A subsequent Independent Police Complaints Commission report investigated 14 officers, and decided none would face criminal charges.

It was recommended that further action be taken against senior officers – but no misconduct hearings took place.

Meanwhile, two of the five men who had been jailed for murder were given a combined £200,000 in damages.

This sorry saga offers one nightmare after another for the family of Kevin Nunes.

Not only have they had to face the fact that still his killer(s) have not been caught, but they must put up with story after story of failures by the very police force that should be providing them justice.

Now, after claiming for damages against the force, they have been told they will not, for now, receive a penny.

How is this fair?

The greatest victims of this sorry series of events is the family members, especially the son who has suffered mentally from the failed murder investigation into his father’s death.

He will never meet his father. But he may still hope that one day his father’s killer(s) will be caught at long last.

But for now he has, basically, been told to get on with his life alone, left in the cold, as his mother Leanne says about the situation.

The police force should be, in contrast, doing everything it can, not only to apologise to the family, but then remedy the obviously damaging impact this whole story has had on their lives thus far.

Where is the justice?