Ray Gilbert: A Life Stolen Before It Began

Ray Gilbert entered the world in Liverpool in 1958, unwanted from the very start. While some of his siblings spent brief periods in care, Ray’s childhood was defined by it. What should have been a place of safety became a revolving door of institutions, instability, and survival.

Before he ever reached the care system, the harm had already begun. Ray’s mother subjected him to violence, humiliation, and neglect. A speech impediment and a painful skin condition made him an easy target for cruelty, compounding the isolation of a boy already denied the basics of love and protection.

Ray wasn’t perfect — and he has never claimed to be. Petty crime became part of his early life, shaped by the circumstances he was born into. But one thing has always been clear: he is not a killer. The idea that he could stab someone nineteen times was never part of his story, never part of who he was.

Yet that narrative — imposed on him, not lived by him — would consume decades of his life. Ray has spent 44 years fighting to clear his name, waiting for a justice system that has never truly listened to him.

Forty-five years on, he is still waiting.