Shocking new evidence revealed 'could free' Paul Denham as he pleads innocence 30 years after being jailed for murdering his wife's lover in cold-blooded 'love triangle killing'

A British man put away for life over the killing of his wife’s lover claims he didn’t do it and wants to be freed after 30 years behind bars.

Paul Denham was convicted of the chilling murder-shooting of Edward Weinmann while the pair were both allegedly driving on the 405 freeway in Los Angeles, California in 1995.

Paul, who moved to LA from Eltham, South London in the 1990s, has continuously pleaded his innocence, even claiming he was 350 miles away in another state during the murder.

However detectives have countered his alibi with what they’ve deemed ‘damning evidence’ and say Paul committed the murder in a jealous rage after his wife Dolores Legaspi failed to stop seeing her lover, Edward Weinmann.

Channel 5’s The Wrong Man? 20 Years Behind Bars uncovers the chilling tale of a twisted love triangle that culminated in the March 1995 death of the 25-year-old postal worker and student.’

It also examines new evidence, which could vindicate Paul if proven to be true.  

Edward’s body was found shot to death – including a bullet wound to the head – on the San Diego highway where his bullet-ridden Honda had come to rest after crashing into metal barriers.

Speaking from a maximum-security prison in southern California after 30 years, Paul breaks down what he believes to be the false narrative that put him there.

‘Their [the police] motive is that because I was married to Dolores and they’re claiming Dolores was having a relationship with the victim then I would have a motive for doing away with the victim’, he told the documentary.

He said he had no idea the purported events would mark the end of his freedom.

‘A guy came at me, he put a gun in my face and then I realized I was being arrested,’ he recalled. ‘I thought I’d be out in a week. Now I’m still in custody’.  

Though first detectives at the scene Bryan McMahon and Estella Martinez have long pointed the finger at Paul as the perpetrator of the crime, friends of the Londoner have painted a picture of a studious, ‘intelligent man’ who was ‘anti-confrontational’.

Friends Ian Puddefoot and Nick Watts described their childhood friend as a ‘kind kid’ who moved to the US in 1994 to pursue car vinyl sticker business after its success back home in the UK. 

‘I met Paul when were both 11,’ recalled Ian. ‘We started secondary school. We both come from council estates. Nice kid. Really kind kid’.

‘Paul was a really intelligent lad. A few of us were quite sort of rough and ready – scallywags. But Paul, he was really switched on. He was really good at making things,’ added Nick.

But shortly after arriving in the ‘city of angels’, Paul, then in his 20s, stumbled off course after meeting a striking 20-year-old Dolores while she was working at a youth hostel in San Pedro, California.

His pals recalled how he was instantly ‘besotted’ with Dolores and that he wrote love letters to her before she joined him on his travels around Europe.

Things were seemingly going well for the couple until a shocking confession would alter their lives and that of Edward forever.

Shortly after they began seeing each other, Dolores admitted to seeing another man who she had met at school, and that she was still romantically involved with him. His name was Edward.

Viewers would later find out the pair had been seeing each other on and off for a staggering 10 years.

Despite the startling news, and perhaps testament to Paul’s love for Dolores, the two continued their relationship and officially became husband and wife at a ceremony in Las Vegas a year later.

But Paul illustrated a different picture, and claimed to have only married her to obtain a green card so he could stay in the country and run his business. 

Backing this theory is Darren Kavinoky, a criminal lawyer and journalist who became interested in the case after it hit headlines.

According to Darren, investigations revealed that Paul was ‘romantically in love’ with Dolores and that their pairing was more than just a business arrangement. 

Paul and Dolores sealed their love by moving in together – it was a small rented apartment in Reseda, in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles.

But trouble would find them again in the form of a burglary, after which Paul said he purchased a 380-calibre Lawson handgun – easily purchased over the counter – to protect himself. Eventually Paul moved them to a quieter neighborhood in Palmdale in north LA, where they settled until that fateful night.

Somehow the move would spark a string of stranger-than-fiction events that affected both Paul and Edward.

According to detectives, this was around the same time Edward became a victim of a targeted and concerning stalking campaign – one which lasted up until his murder just a month later. 

At this point the student’s family home was reportedly graffitied with the Ku Klux Klan letters ‘KKK’, causing enraged neighbours to force the Weinmanns out of town.

Their home was also the victim of several Molotov cocktails and at one point arson, as their living room had once caught fire almost burning down the entire property.

All the while Dolores failed to break it off with Edward – in fact things were so serious that her mother told Paul that Edward was her daughter’s boyfriend.

Up until now Paul and Edward had remained far way from each other until one strange evening while at dinner with his wife and her sister, the group bumped into Edward. 

The pair met face to face for the first time and according to witnesses it almost resulted in a fight. 

But that’s not how Paul remembers it. ‘He was like a nutcase arguing with Dolores,’ he said. He added that ‘kids were playing’ nearby and so he did his best to protect everyone by warning Edward to stay clear.

Darren counteracted this memory and instead accused both men of ‘mutual jealousy’ who each wanted the other out of the picture.

Paul has also been accused of incessantly stalking Edward and his wife. He allegedly caught the pair driving towards his home and when Dolores noticed her husband following behind, she stopped the car and confronted Paul, who denied following them.

Retired Los Angeles Police Department Sergeant Cheryl Dorsey said Edward was the victim of seven crimes – including a threatening phone call warning him to ‘leave Dolores alone’ – within a month before his death.

The final and most telling before the murder occurred when Edward was leaving a class at Los Angeles Harbor college. After saying goodbye to a female friend, he entered his car and what happened next would shock him to his core.

As he prepared to take the steering wheel, a man jumped out from the back seat and pointed a gun at Edward, resulting in a struggle and a gunshot that pierced his shirt, only narrowly missing his body.

His friend, Lorna, who had witnessed the crime told officers the assailant was either a ‘Caucasian’ or ‘Latino’ male. Detectives later discovered the gun used contained a homemade silencer made of a t-shirt, yellow tape and black spray-paint.

The next crime against Edward would result in his death. 

On the fateful night of March 12, 1995 at around 7pm, Edward was driving along the 405 freeway in his Honda when a second car pulled up to his driver’s side. Aiming downward, the unknown person let out two shots into Edward’s car, shattering the driver’s side window.

Bullet fragments mostly fell to the floor, except one which penetrated Edward’s left temple, killing him instantly.

Retired homicide detective Mark McGuire said the shooting took ‘considerable marksmanship’ and was unlikely done by an amateur. 

It would be the details of Paul, Dolores and Edward’s love triangle that made him a person of interest in the crime, as within five days of the murder Paul was questioned by police. 

Paul flat out denied knowing anything about it and later accused LA officers of physically harming and ‘screaming’ at him during an interrogation. 

Cops began to build their case against Paul through a series of interrogations, questions and searches at his home.

Cops said they were able to nail him to the crime by two pieces of evidence as well as a ‘lie’ they had caught Paul telling. When asked if he had ever owned a gun, Paul allegedly denied it, though he had once purchased a firearm after a home invasion.

Damning evidence found at his home included yellow tape and black spray paint, which matched the contents of the homemade silencer used to attack Edward before his death.

The next set of evidence would directly contradict his alibi of being ‘350 miles away’. 

Detectives McMahon and Martinez also claimed to discover hand written notes detailing South West and Delta flight numbers, both outbound and return journeys from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

If the notes belonged to Paul it would suggest he was able to fly into LA and commit the murders before returning to San Francisco.

Though Paul claimed to have receipts from a store in San Francisco that would prove he was indeed in there, the receipts showed timestamps eleven hours apart.

Detectives say he used this time to fly from San Francisco to LA to commit the murder and then return.

To prove this, they ran the number plates of cars entering San Franciso airport around the date of the murder – and sure enough a car belonging to Paul turned up.

In January 1998, Paul was convicted of the first-degree murder of Edward Weinmann and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Neither himself or Dolores were ever called to the stand to testify.

But according to Paul, all the evidence was ‘manufactured’ by Los Angeles police. 

Set against a backdrop of 90s LAPD corruption and a time when OJ Simpson was on trial, and homeless Rodney King was the victim of police brutality, retired detective McGuire said police interference could not be totally ruled out.

Though he strongly believed this was not the case with Paul Denham. 

Still, Paul explained why they had the wrong man: ‘At the time of the shooting, I wasn’t even in the Los Angeles area. 

‘I was more than 350 miles away in San Francisco. My medical records show that I have a fractured hand. I needed a big mitt to cover it. It was augmented with a splint and would’ve taken about four to maybe six weeks to heal. I could not have shot anyone with my hand in a cast like that’.

Paul said he was shot by ‘two black guys’ who tried to rob him while out in San Francisco and sustained the injury while trying to defend himself.

But McGuire wasn’t falling for it. ‘It looked like he accidently shot himself or it was done on purpose,’ he said.

However another piece of evidence could vindicate Paul if proven to be true. 

According to Darren, a revision of police evidence indicating Paul’s car was parked at a San Francisco airport around the time of the murder shows the date was actually marked for 1985 – a full decade before the murder occurred.

He explained that in 1995 evidence would’ve been filed manually and was susceptible to human error.

Additionally, a handwriting expert who looked into the flight numbers found at Paul’s residence says the writing style bore a string resemblance to the that of detective Bryan McMahon.

But the question remains, why would McMahon – who has since won an award for his work on the case, along with his partner Estella – jeopardize his career to frame Paul for murder?

According to detectives, Paul filed complaints against McMahon alleging physical harm and duress which could’ve sparked a retaliation and a mission to put him behind bars. But this hasn’t been found to be true. 

Back in the UK, Paul’s friends haven’t given up the fight and have so far raised over £10,000 to fund an appeal to overturn Paul’s conviction. The odds are however stacked against him as on average only 13 per cent of appeals are successful in US.

As at the time the programme aired, Paul, now in his 50s, maintained his innocence and said he was officially appealing his conviction. 

Dolores Legaspi and detectives Bryan McMahon and Estella Martinez have declined to comment.

Meanwhile, Long Beach Police Department released this statement: ‘We launched an administrative investigation in 2014 following a complaint submitted by Mr Denham. 

‘The allegations in the complaint were determined to be unfounded’.

Watch The Wrong Man? 20 Years Behind Bars, now available on Channel 5.