The Boy from Tiger Bay: A True Story of Murder, Betrayal, and a Fight for Justice

by Ceri Jackson, John Actie

A brutal murder. A blighted investigation. The true story of five men damned by a crime they didn’t commit.

On Valentine’s Day 1988, twenty-year-old Lynette White was brutally murdered in a dark corner of Cardiff’s world-famous, and infamous, Tiger Bay. Stigmatised by a bad reputation, the area was on the brink of major redevelopment which would change the historic community forever.

South Wales Police launched its biggest murder hunt to date, and within weeks detectives released a photofit of a prime suspect seen outside the murder scene, his hands covered in blood. A white man. But as the months passed by and no arrest was made, the police came under inevitable pressure.

Everyone knew John Actie. But he didn’t know Lynette White. Yet, almost a year after her death, he and four other innocent men were charged with killing her. None matched the description, and none were white. But they became the scapegoats in what some saw as a desperate attempt to close the case.

Told predominantly through John Actie’s eyes, The Boy from Tiger Bay is an explosive true-crime narrative that exposes one of the UK’s most infamous murder investigations—a story of racial injustice and the enduring fight to bring the truth to light.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, History, Ebooks, Crime, Audiobook

333 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 1, 2025

Reviews

[Great Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real Eye opener this was, didn't realise the police were that corrupt in the 80's/90's. so many innocent people's lives altered forever.

[F.R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having grown up in South Wales, and actually living in Cardiff for some time, the Lynette White murder case was always at the periphery of my knowledge. But I think I was too young to really appreciate what was going on; too distracted to dive properly into what was happening. Which is why I feel lucky to have come across this incredible book, detailing a terrible murder, a miscarriage of justice and the suffering of innocent men whose plight didn’t end even when the real perpetrator confessed.

A must read for all true crime fans.

[Sarah Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Review: The Boy from Tiger Bay by Ceri Jackson

Ceri Jackson’s The Boy from Tiger Bay is a harrowing and meticulously researched true crime narrative that explores a shocking case of murder, institutional betrayal, and one man’s relentless fight for justice. Set against the backdrop of mid-20th-century Wales, the book transcends the true crime genre by weaving together social history, legal analysis, and deeply personal testimony. Jackson’s journalistic precision and compassionate storytelling make this not just an account of a crime, but a searing indictment of systemic failures and a tribute to human resilience.

Content and Themes
The book centers on the wrongful conviction of a young man from the working-class Tiger Bay community in Cardiff, who was accused of a brutal murder he did not commit. Through painstaking reconstruction of events, Jackson exposes the prejudices, police misconduct, and judicial oversights that led to an egregious miscarriage of justice. Key themes include:

Injustice and Prejudice: The case reveals how class and racial biases influenced the investigation and trial, with the defendant’s background counting against him from the start.

The Flaws in the Legal System: Jackson meticulously documents how procedural errors, coerced confessions, and tunnel vision corrupted the pursuit of truth.

Resilience and Redemption: The narrative follows not only the victim of the wrongful conviction but also the advocates and family members who fought for decades to overturn it.

Community and Identity: The book serves as a portrait of Tiger Bay itself—a tight-knit, multicultural community often maligned by outsiders, yet fiercely protective of its own.

Strengths

Rigorous Research: Jackson’s investigative depth is evident in her exhaustive use of court records, interviews, and archival material, lending the narrative unimpeachable credibility.

Narrative Balance: While emotionally charged, the book avoids sensationalism, presenting facts with clarity and allowing readers to draw their own conclusions.

Humanizing Detail: The accused, his family, and even some of those complicit in the injustice are rendered as complex individuals rather than caricatures.

Social Commentary: The case becomes a lens for examining broader issues of class, race, and the power dynamics within Britain’s legal system.

Areas for Improvement

Pacing: The middle section, which delves deeply into legal minutiae, may feel slow to readers more interested in the human drama than procedural details.

Perspective Gaps: While the accused’s story is foregrounded, some secondary figures (such as the original victim’s family) receive less attention, leaving their experiences underexplored.

Structural Repetition: Certain key moments are revisited multiple times from different angles, which adds depth but occasionally disrupts narrative flow.

Score Breakdown (Out of 5)
Research and Accuracy: 5/5 (Impeccable sourcing and factual integrity)
Narrative Engagement: 4.3/5 (Compelling but occasionally slowed by detail)
Emotional Impact: 4.7/5 (Powerful without being manipulative)
Thematic Depth: 4.8/5 (A nuanced critique of systemic injustice)
Prose and Clarity: 4.5/5 (Journalistically crisp, if occasionally dry)
Overall Rating: 4.7/5

The Boy from Tiger Bay is a triumph of true crime literature—a work that balances forensic detail with profound humanity. Jackson’s unflinching yet fair-handed approach ensures that the book is not just about a single miscarriage of justice, but a rallying cry for legal reform and societal introspection. While its density may challenge casual readers, those willing to engage with its complexities will find it unforgettable. This is essential reading for anyone interested in criminal justice, Welsh history, or stories of ordinary people confronting extraordinary adversity.

Acknowledgments
Thank you to NetGalley and Ceri Jackson for providing an advance copy of The Boy from Tiger Bay. This review reflects my sincere appreciation for the book’s scholarly rigor and its emotional resonance as a testament to the enduring fight for truth.

[Kathleen Riggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful and Eye-Opening

The Boy from Tiger Bay is a gripping true-crime story that exposes one of the UK’s worst miscarriages of justice. Ceri Jackson combines meticulous research with emotional depth, telling the harrowing story of the Cardiff Five through the eyes of one of the wrongfully accused. It’s a sobering look at systemic racism, police misconduct, and the long fight for truth. A must-read for true crime and social justice readers alike Thanks to NetGalley and to the publishers of this book for giving me a free advance copy of the book to preview and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Eithne O' Shea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I so wanted this book to be good. The description lured me in, but the story was just so boring and badly portrayed. I don't like to leave a book unfinished, but I struggled to get 40% of it read and just had to give up.
It was repetitive and boring.
2 stars is very generous in my opinion.

[Daphne King · Rating 4 out of 5]

The events recorded in this book shocked me to the core. ‘The Boy from Tiger Bay’, is a true crime narrative that exposes one of the UK’s most infamous murder investigations and the racial injustice suffered by five men who lived in Tiger Bay arrested following the murder of Lynette White on Valentine’s Day 1988. A former BBC journalist, Jackson has championed the case of the five men wrongfully charged with the murder initially through the BBC broadcast, ‘Shreds’ and now in her first book, where she documents the murder hunt and the impact on these five men with painstaking detail, primarily through the eyes of John Actie – one of the five framed with the murder.
As she states in the preface, ‘This is not a story about a murder investigation, but about the dark side of human nature, of blind judgement and prejudice. above all it is the story of five men- snatched from their lives and families to be thrown into a nightmare from which they were never allowed to escape.’
At times I got lost in the depth of the detail across the three decades of the story. The spider’s web of corruption exposed in the book is staggering as Jackson meticulously documents the procedural errors and coerced confessions. Some of this detail slows the pace.
Despite pressure on the government for a public inquiry into the scandal of the Cardiff Five, none has taken place. I hoped that the book might end with a positive note that a public apology was made to the five innocent men, accused of murder. As a teenager who lived through the Bloody Sunday scandal in Derry/ Londonderry, Northern Ireland, I grew up listening to lies and counter lies about what happened that day on 30 Jan 1972 and it was not until several public inquiries and a public apology from the British Prime Minister David Cameron on the 50th anniversary, that the victims found some sense of acknowledgement for their suffering. His message at the time to the victims of Bloody Sunday of ‘the double jeopardy of having your relatives suffer.. for so long…and taking so long for the truth to come out,’ could well be applied to the Cardiff Five case. Thirty years later, three of the five men framed for the murder of Lynette White in 1988 are dead and the families of all five have suffered unimaginable recriminations in the aftermath of wrongful convictions.
This book will stay with me for a long time. I hope that if it is made into a film, the sub titles at the end will emphasise that no public enquiry has ever taken place and indeed I would hope that this book will ensure that this story is never forgotten and will cause the government to and rethink their stance on a public inquiry.

[J Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a true story of a gruesome murder and it's after effects.
Read a lot of crime thrillers, police procedurals, and the like. Many of them are fiction, so I was keen to read this book about a real crime and its tragic aftermath. I had a personal interest as well as I was born in South Wales and spent a lot of time in my teenage years in Cardiff. I had moved to Merseysids before the murder described here by Ceri Jackson, but I have always followed the case and the subsequent events. It's great to finally be to get the full facts.
Readers have laid out here the details of the local environment at the time of Linette White's killing, this initially suspected, tried and convicted after gross corruption by some of the police officers involved and how persistence and the evolution of forensic science led to the real killerbeingidentified and convi ted. Linette White was not the only victim here, though. The fallout of the whole thinghad long term effects on family, the family and friends of the Cardiff Five, and indeed the whole community.
Ceri Jackson covers the whole of the around 40 years of this tragedy in great detail, and she clearly did a great deal of research. She writes in a very easy to read style. I can't recommend this book more highly.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this as it was one of the Amazon Primes “First reads” for April 2025.

Even as I read this, knowing it to be a true and unbiased account based on the evidence and facts, I found the series of events so difficult to conceive my inner monologue was screaming at my kindle “Come on!?!? How can that be allowed?!?”

A powerful and sometimes difficult (but important£ read that I would whole heartedly recommend. I finished the book feeling so sad for the men, for Lynette, their families and the community that suffered for so long, over and over again as result of the fabricated allegations and people in power trying to weasel out of their responsibilities and crimes. So many lives ruined and seemingly such minimal justice for the all of the victims and their families.

Absolutely mind blowing that it happened in such recent history. I think this book will stay with me for a while.

[C A Gentle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I downloaded this book free as part of Amazon's First Reads for April. Not the sort of book I usually read, but I like, from time to time, to use the First Reads to make myself read something I would not normally. I was totally shocked at reading this true account of a dreadful miscarriage of justice. I was even more shocked that I knew nothing about this case, given that it went on for a long time and was major news. I was and am absolutely horrified how people were set up for a crime on no real evidence purely to a "get a result". The impact on the 5 men and their families was harrowing reading. I would recommend anyone to read this book - it really could happen to any one. I found some of the legalise and depth of information hard to take in, but it was a well worth read and a brilliant reminder that we should not judge others on their background and "reputation".

[Mandy Innes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don‘t think I‘ve ever been so angry reading a book. I usually read crime fiction but this was recommended to me. If this was fiction I would have been reading it thinking it was so far-fetched to be believable, which makes the events even more horrendous.

Although I was in my late teens and early 20s when the murder and convictions happened I don‘t remember hearing about it at the time.

I knew there were miscarriages of justice at that time but the sheer scale of the police corruption in this case was unbelievable.

How on earth the jury came to the guilty verdicts is beyond me.

The audacity of the police to complain about bullying and harassment when they were in court showed how untouchable they believed they were.

So many lives were ruined by the events in this book and we can never allow this sort of thing to happen again

This is a story that needed to be told.

[Dolly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A complete miscalculation & miscarriage of justice. The police officers, all fully corrupted.
Poor souls of those 3 brave men who were picked and tortured.
A few flaws in their case:
1. There was no forensic evidence to support that the bloods were linked to the 5 individuals infact the bloods did not match any of the 5 individuals - therefore the men should have been set free.
2. The statements of the so called witnesses were not persistent bearing in mind, 20 statements of one witness telling a completely different story on each statement - a big question mark on this witness statement not being accurate therefore unreliable.
3. Stephen Lawrence case is another example of miscarriage of justice.

The novel is brilliantly written and told has it was at the time when coppers were racist.

[Linda Dodds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard reading

This is the first actual true story that I have read. It was, as a result, a very hard book to read. It was necessarily, and quite understandably bogged down with facts and data. Lots of court room language, police procedural and too many characters to keep track of for me.

It was devastatingly cruel to most concerned, especially the original victim Lynette but also the men wrongly accused, convicted plus the many others bullied, browbeaten and harassed along the way. The toll taken by families and friends was unashamedly brutal.

As always in real life the good don't prevail and the sneaky, evil, lazy and incompetent win the day.

[CarolinaBookBliss · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Boy From Tiger Bay' by Cero Jackson is a hard-hitting, impactful read that sheds light on police corruption and the wrongful incarceration of five men. The author's thorough research is evident, exposing huge injustices. Although the writing style wasn't my usual cup of tea, I found it an interesting read, particularly for those familiar with the case. It's a powerful exploration of a disturbing miscarriage of justice.
Thank you to NetGalley and Little A for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[lori pennington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many thanks to NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing for the free audiobook ine xchange for my honest review. Ceri Jackson narrates the audiobook and does a great job!

A great true crime story! Lynette White was brutally murdered on Valentine’s Day 1988 and a corrupt and racially prejudiced police force pursued and falsely incarcerated five men. I was not familiar with this story but found it intriguing. The impact on the 5 men and their families was harrowing reading.

Recommend for true crime readers!

[Debra Medina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dear The Boy from Tiger Bay,
You were another interesting trek into a true crime case that I knew nothing about. You did a balanced job of telling the story from the accused's point of view and showed the gross miscarriage of justice that happened to these 5 men. You felt like an accurate representation of what happened, the families fight for justice and the ultimate conclusion that happened. You were interesting and informative without reading like a textbook.

[Whitney Warrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher for making this ebook available!

Exhaustively researched, "The Boy from Tiger Bay" depicts the hell of five wrongfully convicted young men, the bullied witnesses, and the families of both the victim and the accused. The actual murderer is somewhat of an afterthought, reflecting the attitude of the many crime agencies tasked with solving the crime.

This is required reading.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A comprehensive account of a miscarriage of justice that is still not really resolved over 30 years later.
The book reads very much like a true crime pod cast, so not so much a story but a well research account of 5 men being fitted up by the police for a murder of a young woman.
It makes interesting reading, although not enjoyable and highly concerning, that the police force allowed this to go on for so long.

[Steve Ferns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb Investigative Journalism

A miscarriage of justice is always terrible for all those involved. But the extent to which the South Wales Police corrupted and misled witnesses in order to convict totally innocent people is off the scale.

The police in those days were massively corrupt and one wonders how many more innocent people were jailed for crimes they did not commit but didn't have people fighting their corner on the outside. That this took so long to resolve is a stain on the whole of the British justice system.

[Barrie A Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly documented.

I found it difficult to stop reading it but needed to sleep.
What a fantastic read, sad and she opening.
I live up in the valleys (Bargoed ) Near Caerphilly and would on many occasions travel by train to Cardiff to swim at the Empire pool. I only ventured around the centre.
I cannot imagine how these poor men didn't go totally mad bless them.
Thanks to the author for bringing this miscarriage of justice to light.

[Kimberley Manderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

"No, they were no angels. But far more than that, they were innocent men who had told the truth and shamed the devil."

what a line.

I can't even begin to describe how much this book filled me with absolute rage at the so-called justice system in this country. What a terrible miscarriage of justice so carefully and honestly captured by Ceri Jackson.

[Gordon Johnston · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good true crime book telling the story for a brutal murder in Cardiff's Tiger Bay. With the police getting nowhere, five local men were fitted up for the crime. The book tells the story of the fight to clear their names and the eventual conviction of the murderer. The impact on the judicial system was huge. A difficult and disturbing read, with the facts well constructed and presented.

[Philip Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly professional and fully comprehensive treatment of police corruption that fixed up five innocent men for murder. Written with an accessible style that never misses. For me, this is a surprising insight into the bad side of British policing in the late 20th century. Couldn't put it down!

[Jodie Devereaux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant read.
A very hard read, hearing the injustice of the men! As someone living in South Wales, the police corruption doesn't surprise me and I can bet it is still going on today if not worse these days.

[Anita Dent · Rating 4 out of 5]

The brutal murder of Lynette White on Valentine’s Day 1988 led to the false incarceration of five men. Despite these men not fitting the initial description they were scapegoats in a desperate attempt to close the case. This was to have far reaching consequences for many years.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very difficult read about a torrid time in Britian, with political uprising, corrupt police and a battle between poverty and regeneration all playing out. This true story was sensitively written in a way that didn't forget any of the victims

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was depressing, but an important story to have aired. I guess it's good to know that wrongful convictions aren't a USA specialty.
There were some parts that dragged, but overall a thorough look at a case I hadn't heard of before.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ALC

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional

What a fantastic read, Ceri Jackson has done an expert job of putting together the case of the Cardiff Five. Something I'm sure I would have been aware of at the time, but on reading about it now, underlines the significant importance of investigative journalism.

[Christine Weald · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reminder of the cruelty and mistrust that existed against certain ethnic groups. The story emphasised the despair an innocent person suffered trying to be heard.
Account was well delivered with thought provocation.

[Nick Adamson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. Full of detail and clearly well researched. Written in a way that keeps the narrative moving and with compassion for those involved.
Highly recommended.

[Stephanie Mellor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating & sad story

What a fascinating but sad story of huge injustices. Making me feel angry & frustrated at the criminal justice system. Let's hope that things have changed!