A man who spent 11 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit has finally come face-to-face with the victim's family in an emotional meeting.
Michael O’Brien, now 52, was one of three men - the so-called ‘Cardiff Newsagent Three’ - wrongfully convicted for the murder of Cardiff businessman Phillip Saunders in 1987.
After a traumatic decade in prison - in which he saw a man stabbed to death and his baby daughter died - Michael was released when the Court of Appeal quashed this conviction alongside two other men accused of the murder, Darren Hall and Ellis Sherwood.
Michael has spent his time since rallying for an inquiry into Phillip's death and South Wales Police's conduct in a bid to find the real killer and bring an end to the unsolved murder.
And he finally has the help of Phillip's family, who he has been trying to contact for years.
In an emotional meeting on British Injustice with Raphael Rowe, Michael met Phillip's sister Phoebe, now 92, and her son David.
Phoebe, who fears dying without seeing justice for her brother, told Michael: "It's good to meet you. You can't put a plaster over to repair what this has done to you or your family or anything. You can't bandage it up.
"That's why we can feel for you. Because we know what you've been through. I am glad that we agreed to see you. We have often thought of you. I feel very relieved and glad.
"All I hope is that I am still alive when they find out who really did it."
A tearful David, 63, told him: "My heart goes out for what you went through."
Of the meeting, Michael told the Sunday Mirror: "It was wonderful to meet them, but it was very painful. It's something I have been waiting for, for a very long time. I cannot empathise with them enough and am so desperate for them to see justice because Phillip's killer is still at large and that bothers me greatly.
"It's bad enough what happened to me but the family has been lost in this miscarriage of justice - I have been championing their cause since the day I walked out of prison. They are the primary victims here and I am only a secondary victim because of what they went through."
Michael was just 19 years old when he was jailed for life after being wrongly convicted of murder.
When his baby daughter Kylie died, he was only allowed out of jail to attend the funeral while handcuffed to a warder.
His step-dad later died and there were armed police at the funeral, with Michael saying he felt like he was being treated "like Reggie Kray".
He turned for drinks and drugs for the first few years and still struggles with PTSD after seven men were murdered in the prison during his time there.
He witnessed one inmate stab another to death, an image he is still haunted by today.
Michael got £692,000 compensation from the Home Office and later received a record £300,000 from the police for malicious prosecution after his conviction was quashed.
But life after prison has been a struggle for Michael.
For a time, he found happiness with his new wife, Claire – but tragedy struck again when their two-year-old son Dylan died of a rare genetic disorder that hadn’t been properly treated by the NHS.
Now his focus is on getting a fresh police investigation by an outside force into the unsolved murder for which he was convicted three decades ago.
He spent his time in prison learning to read and write to fight back against his conviction and even taught himself law.
Launching a new inquiry is what keeps single dad Michael focused now alongside looking after his ten-year-old son Dainton.
He added: “I cherish every day with Dainton because I realise the amount of life I missed out on it prison.
"And every day I think of Phillip Saunders and the fact that his family still hasn’t had justice."
- British Injustice with Raphael Rowe is available to stream on C+I PLAY crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/play
