Innocent men were put behind bars following the murder of Lynette White. The system is a disgrace

There are no saving graces over today's collapse of the biggest ever miscarriage of justice trial. If you cannot prosecute public officials where there is no credible doubt about the original defendants' innocence then forget it ? it will never happen.

The trial of eight police officers and two witnesses over the wrongful conviction of three men for the 1990 murder of Lynette White in Cardiff collapsed. It almost certainly means there will never be an investigation into the numerous failures of the criminal justice system, especially the Crown Prosecution Service, in allowing the "Cardiff Three" to be prosecuted despite the absence of credible evidence. The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, has said he is "extremely concerned". Where is the apology for the repeated failings of the original prosecution?

As a result of today's decision, there are no consequences for the disgraceful investigation that wrongly convicted Stephen Miller, Tony Paris and the late Yusef Abdullahi and betrayed White's memory.

The original Lynette White inquiry, headed by Detective Chief Superintendent John Williams, was an utter disgrace; the second, led by Detective Superintendent Kevin O'Neill ? which found the real killer, Jeffrey Gafoor ? was a model of modern investigative policing. Under O'Neill the Cardiff Three became the first miscarriage of justice victims in the DNA age to be vindicated by the conviction of the real murderer. It meant there was no doubt that the alleged eyewitnesses, Leanne Vilday, Angela Psaila and Mark Grommek had perjured themselves when they said they saw the three ? plus cousins John and Ronnie Actie, who were acquitted but only after spending two years behind bars before trial ? at the scene or committing the murder.

Rarely has there been a more disgraceful travesty of justice. Lynette White's murder was at the time the most brutal of its type in Welsh history. There was no credible evidence that proved the Cardiff Five guilty. Reams of evidence relating to alternative suspects ? one of whom was Detective Inspector Graham Mouncher's prime suspect ? was never disclosed to their defence .

The scientific evidence proved the Cardiff Five innocent and did so before they stood trial. How could five of them have not left so much as a single cell of DNA at the scene or on the victim or have any trace of her blood on them, while Gafoor shed plenty at the scene? Abdullahi had a very strong alibi that he was working on a ship throughout the night of the murder.

The CPS ignored its own sufficiency of evidence criteria to prosecute an appalling case. Requests for an explanation of its decision to prosecute in spite of the lack of credible evidence have been stonewalled for the best part of 15 years. Vilday, Psaila and Gromek pleaded guilty to perjury in 2008; but at that trial defence, judge and prosecution all agreed the police had forced them to lie.

Today's decision to halt the trial means the only people held accountable for a scandalous miscarriage of justice are three witnesses who had resisted shameful bullying by officers for months before cracking under duress, and were then convicted for the lies they had been forced to tell.

It emerged that copies of documents relating to a complaint were destroyed and that destruction not noted. Apparently this meant the officers and witnesses could not get a fair trial.

I got to know all of the wrongly accused men and I worked with White's mother, Peggy Pesticcio, to get the case reopened twice. Abdullahi died young, shamefully denied help despite a scheme being available to help victims of miscarriages of justice.

This trial could and should have led the way for others to secure justice; instead we are to get another inquiry to be conducted by the same system that has failed miserably. It is time for a fully independent public inquiry into the functioning of criminal justice in south Wales. Nothing less will do. The government must act now if it cares about restoring public confidence.