 Lord Scarman criticised the police for their handling of the case, claiming that they should have put more emphasis on the fact that there had been no struggle, suggesting that Maxwell Confait had known his killer.In his final judgement, he declared all three of the young men "innocent".The Home Secretary then ordered a further police enquiry into the case under Peter Fryer, of the Derbyshire Police, who later became Assistant Chief Constable of West Mercia.