There has been extensive coverage in the UK press of the the acquittal of Warren Blackwell who was found guilty of rape in 1999 and sentenced to three years imprisonment. Later the Court of Appeal, on an application from the Attorney General, increased his sentence to five years. He subsequently took his his case to the to [...]
CCRC Refer Sex Case to Court of Appeal
August 25, 2006 from
The Criminal Cases Review Commission issued the following Press release on 14th August.COMMISSION REFERS SENTENCE FOR SEX OFFENCES OF ANDREW LAY TO THE COURT OF APPEALThe Criminal Cases Review Commission has referred the sentence of Mr Andrew Lay, for a series of sexual and indecency offences, to the Court of Appeal.Mr Lay pleaded guilty to a [...]
FACTION – September edition on line
August 17, 2006 from
The September edition of FACTion can now be downloaded from hereIn this edition you will find news about:-Successful Appeals New Scotland Shows Old Scotland the Way – the Novia Scotia Experience Life as Abuse Falsely Accused North Wales Man Awarded £89,000 Coventry Teacher Unfairly Sacked Why Did These Two Men Have to Go to Prison? [...]
Home Affairs Select Committee to Question the Chairman of the Criminal Cases Review Commission
July 12, 2006 from
The Home Affairs Select Committee have announced that they require the chairman of the Criminal Cases Review Commission to give evidence before them on Tuesday 10th Oct 2006. The HASC is seeking short written submissions from interested parties, highlighting issues which should be raised at this meeting. Such evidence should not exceed 1,000 words and [...]
John Siddall and Ian Brooke Acquitted by the Court of Appeal
June 16, 2006 from
We are delighted to announce that John Siddal and Ian Brooke have been acquitted by the Court of Appeal of allegations that they sexually abused children in their care. The case was referred back to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission. A full report appears in the Yorkshire Post (here)The following press [...]
Conviction of two careworkers referred to Appeal Court by CCRC
June 2, 2006 from
According to a report in the Hudderfield Daily Examiner two men jailed over alleged child abuse in Kirklees care homes dating back two decades have begun an Appeal Court bid to overturn their convictions. John Stephen Siddall, 46, of Dewsbury, was jailed for four years after he was convicted of three counts of indecent assault and one of [...]
Teacher who died in prison is cleared posthumously of rape
April 26, 2006 from
The following article By Ian Rosser, Education Reporterappears in the Leeds Today A West Yorkshire teacher who died in prison after being convicted of raping one his pupils has been cleared posthumously.Timothy Gee was jailed for eight years when he was convicted at Leeds Crown Court in 2001. He fell ill and died from an undiagnosed blood [...]
CCRC Refer Case to Appeal Court
March 8, 2006 from
The Criminal Cases Review Commission has referred the convictions for rape and indecent assault of Mr Michael R to the Court of Appeal. Mr R was convicted at Wolverhampton Crown Court on 28 August 1998 of three charges of rape and six charges of indecent assault against two girls. He was sentenced to a total [...]
Recent Parliamentary Questions
December 2, 2005 from
Claire Curtis-Thomas (Crosby, Lab) asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list organisations which have received funding from his Department to help individuals who claim to have been falsely accused of sexual crime; and how much each organisation received in the last five years for which figures are available. Paul Goggins [...]
Parliamentary Questions
November 23, 2005 from
On 21st November 2005 Claire Curtis-Thomas (Crosby, Lab) asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what upgrades are being made to the hardware and software elements of the Criminal Cases Review Commission’s IT system. Fiona Mactaggart (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office) repliedThe Commission is currently engaged in a project to implement an electronic records management [...]
Parliamentary Questions
November 16, 2005 from
On the 9th November Claire Curtis Thomas asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many investigating officers were appointed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission during the period from 31 March 2003 to 31 March 2004; and how many cases were investigated during this period.Fiona Mactaggart (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office) replied As at [...]
Parliamentary Questions
November 4, 2005 from
The following questions concerning investigations into alleged child abuse were asked by Claire Curtis Thomas in the UK ParliamentWritten Answers – Home Department: Criminal Cases Review Commission (2 Nov 2005) Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many process improvement projects were active in the Criminal Cases Review Commission [...]
Parliamentary Questions
November 3, 2005 from
The following questions were asked by Claire Curtis Thomas MP regarding issues to do with the investigation of child abuse. Written Answers – Home Department: Criminal Cases Review Commission (1 Nov 2005) Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether minimisation of case accumulation is a priority for the Criminal Cases [...]
Parliamentary Questions – CCRC
October 19, 2005 from
Claire Curtis-Thomas asked the following questions in Parliament in relation to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (21 Jul 2005) Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made by the Criminal Cases Review Commission and the Historical Abuse Appeal Panel on abuse cases; and if he will [...]
CRCR Announce Research into Expert Witnesses
October 7, 2005 from
Role of Expert Witnesses in Trials is to be Independently Reviewed The Criminal Cases Review Commission wants to see if lessons can be learned from convictions overturned due to flawed scientific or medical evidence. Lawyer Bill O’Brien, of the University of Warwick, is to study some of the 7,300 cases referred to the commission. He [...]
Bob Woffinden article in The Times
July 19, 2005 from
Posted on 11th November 2003Bob Woffinden has an excellent article in todays Times (11 November 2003) on challenging the history of child abuse and the problem posed by false allegations. Challenging history of child abuse by Bob Woffinden.There is fresh hope for former carers who claim to have been wrongly convicted of crimes from the past.A [...]
All Party Group for Investigations
July 19, 2005 from
This item was first published on the FACT website on 18th SeptemberHere is, at last, the APGAI newsletter covering our work over the last few months.I have had meetings with:Hazel Blears (Home Office Minister responsible for the Police & Crime Reduction)The purpose of this debate was to highlight the fact that during the last 10 [...]
CCRC refer care home case to Court of Appeal
July 19, 2005 from
This item first appeared on the F.A.C.T. website on the 10th January 2005Press release 16 December 2004 COMMISSION REFERS SEXUAL OFFENCES CARE HOME CONVICTIONS OF JOHN SIDDALL AND IAN BROOKE TO THE COURT OF APPEALThe Criminal Cases Review Commission has referred the convictions for sexual offences of John Siddall and Ian Brooke to the Court [...]
Lobbying Idea – Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) – Terms of Reference
July 19, 2005 from
This item first appeared on the FACT website on the 24th February 2005Despite the very good work undertaken by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) most independent observers accept that its hands are tied by the stautory requirement that they can only refer cases to the Court of Appeal if there is a ‘real possibility’ [...]
Innocence Projects – Update
July 17, 2005 from
This item was first placed on the F.A.C.T. website on 16th April 2005Six months on from the Innocence Projects Colloquium, University of Bristol, it seems timely to provide an update of innocence project activity. It is still very, very early days yet, but as will be seen below, the signs are that the seeds are [...]
Canning Case Shows Need for Fairer System of Redress
January 25, 2005 from Leave a Comment
Criminal lawyers argue that compensation schemes for the wrongfully convicted are in urgent need of reform NINE years ago Paul Grecian, a Scottish businessman who used to supply defence equipment for governments worldwide, was languishing in a South African jail after having been arrested under an Interpol extradition order from the US. “I got this [...]
Book launch – Judge for Yourself
November 6, 2004 from
JUDGE FOR YOURSELF HOW MANY ARE INNOCENT – LOCAL AUTHOR’S GUIDE TO THE BRITISH LEGAL SYSTEM’S APPALLING NUMBER OF MISCARRIAGES OF JUSTICE PROVES TO BE A STARTLING REVELATION Launch party & signing: 11th November 2004, 5pm onwards Hammicks Book Shop, 191-193 Fleet St. London Paddy Joe Hill (Birmingham 6), Paul Blackburn & Michael Mansfield QC in [...]
It’s getting worse for vulnerable parents
October 19, 2004 from Leave a Comment
Two months ago, health.telegraph explored the problem of children being taken into care after their parents had been falsely accused of ill-treatment. Since then, reports Cassandra Jardine, more than 40 couples have defied the rules of secrecy to tell of their own experiencesSince the acquittal of Sally Clark, Angela Cannings and Trupti Patel, a large [...]
Injustice victims given new chance
September 3, 2004 from Leave a Comment
Victims of miscarriages of justice have helped set up a network to enable academics, lawyers and those wrongly accused of crimes in the past to research cases of prisoners who say they have been falsely convicted. Criminals who have exhausted their appeals process will be able to ask the organisation – known as the Innocence [...]
Freed care worker demands answers
February 5, 2004 from Leave a Comment
The case against Anver Daud Sheikh was “holed” A care worker who had his sex assault convictions quashed says serious questions must be asked about miscarriages of justice in child abuse cases. Anver Daud Sheikh was two years into an eight-year term for serious sexual assaults on two boys in a Yorkshire care home where [...]