Cleared of murder, the state refused to free Nicky Jacobs

Nicky Jacobs (45) was cleared of the 1985 murder of Keith Blakelock yesterday and was expected to walk out of the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey in triumph. Instead he was taken back to prison on the pretext of there being outstanding paperwork, but the screws who normally handle that matter had all gone home - so an innocent man got to spend another night in jail. He was finally released just before noon today.

Not a single newspaper seems to be carrying this disgraceful turn of events, and we have the BBC to thank that the news has even got out at all.

The excuses for this are many and varied, with the so-called Ministry of Justice saying po-faced: "Public safety is our priority and prisons must be satisfied there are no outstanding legal issues before releasing an acquitted prisoner." For its part, the prison commented off the record that "This case is of a high media profile and we don't want to release him in error."

Translated into simple English the police wanted a bit of petty revenge for their failure to fit up an innocent man, so they kept him banged up for another night out of spite, as his solicitor Tony Meisels said: "It's almost like the last small laugh of the police, to keep him an extra night."

The party tonight in Tottenham, London, is going to be something to see!