17 July 2013

Barry George


It is truly disgusting that Barry has been denied compensation.  The excuse given...'not innocent enough', is appalling.  When you have been wrongly convicted no amount of money would ever take away the pain and damage done, but he was cleared and that has to be accepted. It is yet another travesty being served on him by those who put him away for years - he deserves to be compensated for his suffering. 

WHO CAN WE TRUST?? (An article from MOJUK)

Another Fine White Wash By the IPCC

IPCC publishes report of its Lynette White 'missing' documents investigation

[The trial of eight police officers involved in the original investigation into the murder of Lynette White in 1988 ended on 1 December 2011 when prosecuting counsel told the court that four files of documents had been shredded on the orders of South Wales Police senior investigating officer Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Coutts. South Wales Police immediately referred the matter to the Independent Police Complaints Commission and an independent investigation started on 2 December 2011.]

IPCC 16 July 2013

06 July 2013

Excellent article from The Justice Gap - certainly worth reading

24 December 2012

CASE OF UDAY JOSHI

Because of recent 'historical abuse' cases this one shows not all are guilty and we need to treat each case on an individual basis.

 A Fight for Justice - Uday Joshi's Case

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

LONDON Against Injustice, an organization that supports victims of a miscarriage of justice, has thrown

its weight behind the case of the former Indian cricketer Uday Joshi who is serving a six year prison

sentence for molesting a 13-year old boy in Belfast in 1979.

After hearing the facts of Joshi's case at this month's monthly meeting London Against Injustice's

secretary said:

"Uday Joshi's case contains  number of  unanswered questions and anomalies. This suggests that Uday is

the victim of a very serious miscarriage of justice which is why we are giving him our wholehearted

support."

The backing of London Against Injustice endorses the comments of the Professional Cricketers'

Association's legal director Ian Smith who concedes that it is common for juries to convict in this type of

case on the thinnest of evidence.

"This is a serious problem within the criminal justice system and not just in Northern Ireland," Mr Smith

commented.

The Professional Cricketers' Association announced their backing of Joshi's case last week and Joshi also

has the support of many of his former Sussex team mates including former England Test cricketers Tony

Greig, John Snow and Jim Parks who have all expressed concern about Joshi's conviction and sentence.

Joshi's son, Aakash, who is co-ordinating the campaign is delighted with the growing support.

"The speed at which support for my father's case is growing indicates the great concern that people have

about his case. It also shows how seriously people are taking our campaign which will continue to fight

for  my father's conviction to be quashed."

For further information please contact David Bennett 07890071934.

 Supporters include: Tony Greig (Former England and Sussex CCC captain), John Snow and Jim Parks (England and Sussex CCC), John Barclay (Deputy Lieutenant West Sussex, Past president MCC and former Sussex CCC captain), John Spencer (former deputy headmaster Brighton College and Sussex CCC), Les Lenham (A former National Cricket Coach and Sussex CCC).


28 October 2012

Death of Sean Hodgson

Yet another example of the damage a wrongful conviction has on the individual. I have said this before but it is a fact that the years in jail and the struggle to prove ones innocence does take its' toll and for Sean, his time of freedom has been far too short.

** Miscarriage of justice man dies **
A man wrongfully jailed for 27 years for a murder he did not commit dies three years after being released from prison.
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/uk-england-20109311 >

20 October 2012

Jeremy Bamber's challenge to CCRC decision

Jeremy Bamber's case is well known
Some are certain he is guilty.....only Jeremy knows, BUT I truly believe there are too many inconsistencies and unanswered questions to leave this alone.  He deserves another chance to have ALL the evidence that has come to light heard again.  Below is Jeremy's response to the latest set back of which he hash had many.  However he always comes back fighting.  I think his 2nd article written by him is particularly poignant and thought it worth sharing.  The links within his statement are worth looking at.

These are Jeremy's views on yesterday's ruling.

"Yesterday saw the High Court reject my application to Judicially Review the decision from the CCRC not to send my case back to the appeal court based on the new evidence. It is our intention to apply for an oral hearing and I have every confidence in my legal team to submit the case and win.  I suspect that the decision made today has political implications, particularly in light of so many recent events where police corruption and general misconduct in public office is virulent, this is especially so where high profile cases are concerned.  Should I win my case at Judicial Review, the conduct, competency and integrity of the CCRC will be brought into question. The impact of this will be very serious as the handling of all of the cases rejected (currently at 96%)  by the underfunded and so called 'independent' government operated department will have to be reviewed. The CCRC would no longer be a political patsy able to ignore police corruption and keep it under wraps at the cost of the tax payer and the innocent victims of injustice." 

Jeremy

This is the second article in a series of four, Jeremy Bamber: A Life of Less Liberty, which marks 26 years wrongly convicted and 27 years of imprisonment.

"I wanted to share some reflections on what I might have done with my life career wise had I not come to prison. My earliest memory about what my future career would be is that I wanted to be an astronaut, it seems a bit stupid saying that now, except that I had grown up with the Apollo space launches and I had watched the first moon landing live on T.V and heard those memorable words from the late Neil Armstrong, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." I think I was 8 or 9 years old when I heard those words and it seemed to me that exploring space was the obvious thing to want to do.

 There were no street lights around where we lived, so the dark nights meant we could see a million stars in the sky. Dad had learnt to navigate his aircraft using the stars and he would teach me different constellations and the names of particular stars if we were out on a clear night. Dad told me the night sky was important for many reasons, and he always had exciting stories to tell about the moon. I believed the Clangers lived on the moon along with the Soup Dragon and he would make stuff up to make the night sky even more magical. So when I'm peering out between the bars on my window at the night sky I'm hoping to glimpse a star I can recognize, but the prison lights are always blazing, so I'm lucky if I can see one or two stars in the tiny section of sky available to me. 

 Star gazing would have become a great hobby as I knew from a young age that I'd be a farmer. Dad inspired me with the wonder of growing the things that made our living and he understood that to engage my interest it had to be on an intellectual basis as well as practical and that's why I enjoy my time in the Braille workshop. Braille can be tricky to learn how to read and write and there is nothing else like it. So there are no skills you have already that allow you to read a single letter – what you look at are effectively a series of tactile dots, as each character is created from 6 dots. 

 Had I not come to jail I would never have become a skilled Braillist, and I enjoy every moment I am doing it because I know that this will set minds free from the darkness of blindness. It gives my life a value too so that the injustice I'm suffering seems bearable and in many ways my 'career' has been the lifetimes work I have spent searching for evidence to prove my innocence among the case documents. Finding the truth and working towards freedom helps me to focus on the future in a way that nothing else does. 

 You never know what is around the corner, but whatever life deals for you it's important to make as much as possible from each moment. Jail has made my horizons small compared with the dreams I had as a boy and the freedoms I had on the farm.

 A quote from Richard Lovelace (1618-1658) inspired me to write:

 "Stone walls do not a prison make,

Nor iron bars a cage,

Life innocent and youthful take,

That freedom's won't assuage."

 It's about never getting the time back, but it's no excuse to blame circumstance for wasting the time we have. I miss everything from my life before jail, and will enjoy those things that freedom brings but I also hope that I can look back and miss much from jail with few regrets but only time will tell." 

 Jeremy

13 September 2012

Wullie Beck

Great news for Wullie, I am thrilled for him and maybe we can say hope for us all after his battle for 30 years!

William 'Wullie' Beck to Scottish CCRC After Thirty-Year Fight

William 'Wullie' Beck's thirty-year fight to clear his name for a conviction he served six years of imprisonment for has culminated in an appeal thanks to work by the University of Bristol Innocence Project (UoBIP).  The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission announced this week they have referred Mr Beck's case back to the High Court of Justiciary after agreeing his conviction may be unsafe.

William Beck was 20 when he was arrested for an armed robbery of a post van in Livingston, Scotland on 16 December 1981. He served six years of imprisonment for his conviction, which was based exclusively on eyewitness identification.

Although Mr Beck claims that he was in Glasgow the entire day at the time of the robbery, some 40 miles away from where the crime occurred, he was convicted on the positive identification of two eyewitnesses despite other witnesses not identifying Mr Beck in an identity parade.

For more than three decades, Mr Beck has steadfastly protested his innocence, claiming that he is a victim of eyewitness misidentification. By the time he sought the assistance of the UoBIP, Mr Beck has made two previous unsuccessful applications to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission and numerous complaints about how the police conducted the identification parade and the conduct of his legal representatives at trial.

The UoBIP took on Mr Beck's case in 2011 following the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission's provisional Statement of Reasons stating that it was not minded to refer his conviction to the High Court of Justiciary.

Under the guidance of Dr Michael Naughton, postgraduate law students Mark Allum and Ryan Jendoubi at the University of Bristol Law School undertook detailed research into Mr Beck's case and made two submissions to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. They contended that a combination of factors rendered a real likelihood of a miscarriage of justice in Mr Beck's case. In addition to the 'flimsy nature' of the eyewitness identification evidence that underpinned his conviction, they argued that the judge had made several serious errors in the way in which he had directed the jury.

In an interview with Good Morning Scotland, Dr Naughton said: "This is a significant moment for Mr Beck. There has been 1,500 cases applied to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission and only about 100 cases have ever been referred. They have agreed with us that a miscarriage of justice may have occurred in Mr Beck's case and we are delighted that they have referred his case."

In a public statement posted on a justice forum website, Mr Beck expressed his gratitude to both the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission and the UoBIP, stating that "he had 'no doubt whatsoever' that it was the UoBIP that convinced the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission to refer his case".

University of Bristol Innocence Project