Archive for CCRC
A secret diary that could have cleared a convicted murderer was held by the police for at least 16 years while he remained in jail, protesting his innocence. Eddie Gilfoyle was jailed for life in 1993 for murdering his pregnant wife, Paula, by hanging her and making it look like suicide.
The Times newspaper has learnt that a locked box containing her diary and personal papers revealed a previous suicide attempt and a traumatic past. Alison Halford, the former Assistant Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, which investigated the death, said yesterday it was wicked that the evidence had not been ...
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This article by Jon Robbins appeared on the Guardian website (here) on Monday 26 September 2011
Convicted of robbery in 1970, Tony Stock is still trying to prove his innocence Photograph: Tony Stock
I was witness to an unusual reunion this week, between the former solicitor-general Vera Baird QC, defence lawyer Glyn Maddocks and a 73-year-old Welsh pensioner called Tony Stock. The last time the three of them were together was 15 years ago at the Royal Courts of Justice.
At that point Stock had already spent over quarter of a century fighting to prove his innocence. In July 1970 he was sentenced to ...
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This article by Jamie Doward first appeared on the Guardian website (here) on the 29th May, 2011
The watchdog that examines miscarriages of justice is failing innocent people, according to a senior lawyer involved in some of the highest-profile court cases in recent years.
John Cooper QC, honorary visiting professor of law at Cardiff University, questioned whether the criminal cases review commission has sufficient resources and drive to do its job adequately.
Cooper gave advice to Barry George, the man wrongly convicted of the murder of Jill Dando, and represented the families of soldiers killed in ...
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There is a useful article on p13 of the Main section section of the Guardian on Wednesday 30 March 2011 titled Criminal Cases Review Commission: the last bastion of hope which can be read here
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Morris, R (on the application of) v Criminal Cases Review Commission [2011] EWHC 117 (Admin) (07 February 2011)
Thiscase relates to a claim for Judicial Review brought by Raymond Morris (the Claimant) challenging a decision of the Criminal Cases Review Commission dated 21 June 2010 declining to refer his case to the Court of Appeal Criminal Division under sections 9 and 13 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995.
The primary basis of the claim is that the Commission was wrong to conclude that there was no real possibility that the Court of Appeal would not uphold the conviction in the light of ...
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CPS opens specialist Appeals Unit
Media release : 26/01/2011
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has established a specialist Appeals Unit that will take on new cases in the appeal courts, including all work involving the Criminal Cases Review Commission and Unduly Lenient Sentences.
Keir Starmer QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said: “The CPS is already committed to providing a first-rate service at every stage of a prosecution. This new unit extends that commitment to the appeal process.
“Our dedicated team will hone their expertise and be the point of contact for lawyers and courts across England & Wales, ...
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There is a very good article by Safraz Manzoor in todays Guardian about about the setting up of Innocent Projects in the UK.
The article is titled The Innocence Project: the court of last resort. Well worth reading.
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Bob Woffinden:
Set up to investigate miscarriages of justice, the CCRC’s poor track record in recent years shows it is little more than a fig leaf
When it was set up in 1997, the Criminal Cases Review Commission was an experiment. It was an idea unique in worldwide criminal justice: an extra-judicial body that could give another chance to cases that had reached the end of the legal road. The time has now come to acknowledge that it was an experiment that failed.
The CCRC began work on 1 April 1997. In gauging its overall success, we need ...
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A man who has been in prison for 14 years for attempted rape may have the conviction overturned after it emerged that crucial forensic evidence had never been tested.
Further doubt has been cast on the conviction of postman Victor Nealon by a neurosurgeon, who says that the prisoner could not have had the distinctive facial features identified by witnesses.
Nealon, from Redditch, Worcestershire, was convicted in January 1997 for an attack on a young woman leaving a nightclub in 1996. He is serving a discretionary life sentence in Wakefield prison. He would have been ...
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Why ‘safety in law’ may fail the innocent – the case of Neil Hurley
Michael Naughton, director of the Innocence Network UK, replies to claims the Criminal Cases Review Commission is a ‘champion of justice’
David Jessel, a Commissioner and senior spokesperson at the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) recently argued that it is “a dangerous lie” that “the CCRC couldn’t care less about innocence”; that innocence projects students investigating alleged wrongful convictions “are being encouraged to see the CCRC as the enemy of justice rather than its champion”; and that “to consider the safety of a ...
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Dr Naughtons much acclaimed book The Criminal Cases Review Commission: Hope for the Innocent was published on the 29th November and launched at the House of Commons on the 16th December.
Publisher: Palgrave McMillan
Introduction with synopses of the chapters
‘Michael Naughton’s timely and authoritative book comprehensively destroys the myth that the central mission of the CCRC is to correct wrongful convictions of the innocent.’ Professor Mike McConville, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
’This is a timely and provocative volume, which draws attention to the limitations of Criminal Cases Review Commission and similar institutions?It ought to act as a useful antidote to any sense ...
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An engineer who said his career was derailed by a wrongful conviction for fraud eight years ago was cleared by the court of appeal yesterday.
The case of 36-year-old Patrick Zengeya had been referred back by the Criminal Cases Review Commission as a potential miscarriage of justice.
The court of appeal ruled that the failure to disclose relevant material during the case had undermined the safety of the original verdict.
Full story: Guardian
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The Guardian newspaper has recently launched a Justice on Trial media campaign in order to highlight major over inceasing numbers of miscarriages of justice. In their opening statement at the lauch of the campaign they state:
Nearly 50 years ago, Cyril Connolly wrote that “the test of a country’s justice is not the blunders which are sometimes made but the zeal with which they are put right”. He was writing long before the events that were to lead to some of our most notorious miscarriage of justice cases – the Birmingham six, the Guildford four, Stefan Kiszko – but what he said ...
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A man who spent 27 years in jail for a murder he did not commit said he was “ecstatic” as he walked free from the Court of Appeal.
Sean Hodgson, now 57, saw his “unsafe” conviction for killing Teresa De Simone, 22, in her car in Southampton 30 years ago quashed by senior judges.
Tests prove DNA from the scene was not his and police have reopened the case.
Speaking outside court Mr Hodgson said it was “great to be free” while his brother said his release was a “dream”.
“On behalf of my brother, I would like to thank the solicitor a ...
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Claire Curtis Thomas has recently asked several questions about the work of the Crimiminal Cases Review Commission
Written Answers — Justice: Criminal Cases Review Commission (4 Feb 2009)
Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps the Criminal Cases Review Commission plans to take to reduce its level of case accumulation; and how the Commission will monitor the effectiveness of those steps.
Written Answers — Justice: Criminal Cases Review Commission (4 Feb 2009)
Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how the Criminal Cases Review Commission measures the (a) effectiveness, (b) efficiency and (c) economy of ...
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The following question was asked in Parliament by Claire Curtis Thomas on 3rd March 2009
Claire Curtis-Thomas (Crosby, Labour) | Hansard source
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) complaints and (b) items of correspondence have been received by the Criminal Cases Review Commission in relation to historical sex abuse investigations in the UK in each year since 2001.
Maria Eagle (Parliamentary Secretary, Government Equalities Office; Liverpool, Garston, Labour) | Hansard source
Since 2001, there has been one complaint made to the Commission in relation to a care home sexual abuse case. This complaint, made in 2001, was by an ...
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The head of the organisation which investigates alleged miscarriages of justice has said he wants to be “bolder” about challenging cases. Criminal Cases Review Commission head Richard Foster said he and his staff would go “as far as we properly can” to refer cases to the Appeal Court.
On 2007/08 the CCRC completed inquiries into 1,087 convictions and sentences in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. But only 27 were referred – the lowest rate since the CCRC was set up in 1997…
…The CCRC investigates cases in which people believe they have been wrongly convicted or unfairly sentenced. It has the power ...
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The country’s top appeal judges are failing to correct miscarriages of justice where they suspect the jury has come to a wrong verdict, the head of the body charged with investigating wrongful convictions has warned.
Professor Graham Zellick, the outgoing chairman of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), said the Court of Appeal should order retrials in cases that have a “lurking doubt” about the safety of the conviction.
In an interview with The Independent, Professor Zellick also called on judges to prevent “very dubious” expert evidence, including lip-reading and ear-prints, being presented to the jury. He argued: “It is far better ...
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Judges should order more retrials over unsafe convictions, says criminal review chief
The country’s top appeal judges are failing to correct miscarriages of justice where they suspect the jury has come to a wrong verdict, the head of the body charged with investigating wrongful convictions has warned.
Professor Graham Zellick, the outgoing chairman of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), said the Court of Appeal should order retrials in cases that have a “lurking doubt” about the safety of the conviction.
In an interview with The Independent, Professor Zellick also called on judges to prevent “very dubious” expert evidence, including lip-reading and ear-prints, ...
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