A pub customer has told a jury he was goaded into a brawl as part of a 30 year-long police conspiracy to suppress the truth about the disappearance of schoolgirl Genette Tate.
Melvin Brady says he had no intention of hurting anyone in the brawl at the pub in Honiton which he believes was started deliberately as part of a campaign to discredit him.
Brady, aged 61, claims to have vital evidence about the disappearance of Genette Tate, the 13-year-old who vanished from a country lane at Aylesbeare, near Honiton during a paper round in 1978.
He told a jury at Exeter Crown Court he was deliberately goaded by fellow drinker Brian White at the bar of the Heathfield Inn so he could be prosecuted for assault.
The prosecution say Brady punched 71-year-old Mr White and smashed a glass over the head of customer Scott Saint when he remonstrated with him.
Brady, of Butts Close, Honiton, denies wounding Mr Saint with intent to do grievous bodily harm and assault by battery on Mr Brady.
He told the jury he was on tablets for depression at the time which increased the effect of alcohol and left him with little memory of the night.
He said he was acting in self defence when he swung at Mr White but insisted he had not made contact and the other men fell backwards from his stool as he took evasive action.
He said he could not recall hitting anyone with a glass but lashed out because he was in fear of his life because he had suffered a broken back in a bar brawl at a darts match 30 years ago.
He told the jury he had already been hit on the nose before the incident in which Mr Saint was injured.
He said:"I was minding my own business when Mr White started the trouble and the other two got involved. I had a broken back and a hernia and was in no position to get into a dispute with anyone.
"I saw them coming towards me and I felt threatened. I have no recollection of Mr Saint being injured. The first kid hit me from the blind side on my nose. All I can remember was being hit against the bar and collapsing.
"I had no intention to hurt anyone. I would not have done it if I was not under threat. It was a natural reaction. I had to do something to stop it going any further. I was in a panic. It was all in self defence."
He said he was later hit with a bar stool and asked to leave the pub and could not understand who police arrested him soon afterwards.
Brady said the initial argument was about people bribing driving test examiners to pass but Mr White had deliberately misunderstood him as saying he had done this.
He said he then goaded him by calling him a criminal repeatedly and loudly, causing other customers to look at him and for him to lose his temper and swing a punch.
He claimed this was part of a conspiracy against him which is related to the Genette Tate case in which he has evidence which has been ignored by the police.
Brady, who is representing himself, said:"There has been a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. This goes back to the murder case of Genette Tate 36 years ago.
"I was a witness and for 30 years and the authorities have deliberately left her body in Woodbury Woods and for the past 15 years I have been gagged.
"I have been dominated by this and my life has been interfered with and pressure has been put on solicitors or anyone else who has influence.
"Only a few months ago I went to an MP to ask for a public inquiry. He was interested at first but then he was got at and now he does not want to know.
"I have spent 15 years working to expose the true story but they have tried their best and are still trying their best to stop me which is why I have not been able to call the MP or other witnesses that could back up my story.
"I was told three days in advance and told to keep an eye out for someone who was trying to get me into trouble. I did not realise it was Mr White until I saw him on the floor laughing and knew he had been goading me and I had fallen into a trap.
"It was done to discredit me and so I could be charged with an offence. Of course nobody knew that an innocent man was going to get glassed. They got what they wanted."
