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The Criminal Cases Review Commission Also by Michael Naughton RETHINKING MISCARRIAGES of JUSTICE: Beyond the Tip of the Iceburg the Criminal Cases Review Commission The Criminal Cases Review Commission Also by Michael Naughton RETHINKING MISCARRIAGES OF JUSTICE: Beyond the Tip of the Iceburg The Criminal Cases Review Commission Hope for the Innocent? Edited by Michael Naughton University of Bristol, UK Forewords by C. Ronald Huff University of California, Irvine, USA Michael Mansfield, QC Tooks Chambers, UK and Michael Zander London School of Economics, UK Selection and editorial matter © Michael Naughton 2009, 2011 Individual chapters © their respective authors 2009, 2011 Forewords © Michael Zander, Michael Mansfield 2010 © C. Ronald Huff 2012 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-0-230-21938-0 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published in hardback in 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN First published in paperback 2012 Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-30488-2 ISBN 978-0-230-24526-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230245266 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Dedicated to innocent victims of wrongful conviction Contents Acknowledgements ix Notes on the Contributors x List of Abbreviations xv Foreword by C. Ronald Huff xvi Foreword by Michael Zander xviii Foreword by Michael Mansfield xxi List of Cases xxiii List of Statutes xxv 1 Introduction 1 Michael Naughton Part I Setting the Scene 2 The Importance of Innocence for the Criminal Justice System 17 Michael Naughton Part II Voluntary Sector Perspectives 3 Thoughts from a Victim Support Worker 41 Hazel Keirle 4 Challenging the Refusal to Investigate Evidence Neglected by Trial Lawyers 46 Andrew Green 5 The Failure to Live Up to its Stated Values? The Case of Michael Attwooll and John Roden 59 Dennis Eady 6 The Failure of the Review of the Possible Wrongful Convictions Caused by Michael Heath 77 Satish Sekar Part III Practitioner Perspectives 7 Historical Abuse Cases: Why They Expose the Inadequacy of the Real Possibility Test 97 Mark Newby vii viii Contents 8 Only the Freshest Will Do 107 Campbell Malone 9 Applicant Solicitors: Friends or Foes? 118 Glyn Maddocks and Gabe Tan 10 The Inadequacy of Legal Aid 134 Steven Bird Part IV Academic Perspectives 11 After Ten Years: An Investment in Justice? 151 Richard Nobles and David Schiff 12 Real Possibility or Fat Chance? 166 Kevin Kerrigan 13 Press and Release: UK News Coverage of the CCRC since 1996 178 Paul Mason 14 The CCRC as an Option for Canada: Forwards or Backwards? 191 Clive Walker and Kathryn Campbell 15 A View from the United States 205 Robert Schehr Part V Conclusion 16 Conclusion 221 Michael Naughton References 229 Index 240 Acknowledgements This book is an outgrowth of the Inaugural Innocence Network UK (INUK) Symposium to mark the 10th anniversary of the Criminal Cases Review Com- mission (CCRC), held at the University of Bristol on 31 March 2007, at which papers that form the chapters were presented and discussed. Thank you to those who have contributed to the book and the collaborative spirit that has been shown in working together on this project. Thank you to Paddy Joe Hill, Mike O’ Brien, Paul Blackburn, Gary Mills and Tony Poole for their participa- tion in the Symposium: in many ways this book is motivated in recognition of your experiences and ongoing struggles. Thank you to Gabe Tan for the many vital tasks that she performed as the editorial assistant and for the comments that she made following a meticulous review of the entire manuscript. Thank you, too, to Michael Zander and Gregor McLennan for their encouraging and constructive feedback on the manuscript. Finally, thank you to Amanda, David and Olivia for understanding my absences whilst I was assembling the pieces of this book. MICHAEL NAUGHTON ix Notes on the Contributors Steven Bird established Bird & Co. solicitors in October 2000. He specializes in serious criminal cases and deals with potential miscarriages of justice and other matters in the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) (CACD) or by way of application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). He also represents victims of miscarriages of justice in claims for compensation from the Home Office. Steven is a member of several professional bodies, including the Criminal Appeal Lawyers Association (CALA) where he is a committee member and treasurer. He was a police station duty solicitor from 1992 to 2004 and is a member of the Funding Review Committee and Costs Appeal Committee for the Legal Services Commission. Kathryn Campbell is Associate Professor in the Department of Criminology at the University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Professor Campbell’s research focus has been mainly on issues of social justice, including explorations of miscarriages of justice, youth justice and Aboriginal conceptions of justice. She has written extensively on the Canadian experience of wrongful convic- tions and has published several articles and book chapters on this topic. She is the author of Miscarriages of Justice in Canada: Causes, Responses, Remedies (2009). Dennis Eady is the Campaign Officer for South Wales Against Wrongful Con- victions, a derivative of South Wales Liberty (SWL). Since its establishment, members of the organization have, in a few cases, assisted the CCRC and applications for criminal appeals by providing case analyses and liaison work. The group has also made numerous responses to government consultations on criminal justice issues and has lobbied the authorities in relation to a number of perceived injustices at national level. Andrew Green is the co-founder of United Against Injustice (UAI), a federal organization of miscarriage of justice victim-support groups. Andrew also co- founded INNOCENT, a Manchester based victim-support organization made up of families, friends and supporters of prisoners alleging that they have been wrongly convicted. He is the author of Power, Resistance, Knowledge. C. Ronald Huff is Professor of Criminology, Law and Society as well as Soci- ology and previously served as Dean (1999–2009) of the School of Social Ecology at University of California, Irvine, USA. Prior to joining the UCI faculty in 1999, he taught at The Ohio State University, USA (1979–1999), where he directed the John Glenn School of Public Affairs and the Criminal Justice Research Center; at Purdue University, USA (1976–1999); and at UC Irvine, USA (1974–1976). He was also a Visiting Professor at the University of Hawaii, USA (1995). The most recent of his 12 books include Wrongful x Notes on the Contributors xi Conviction: International Perspectives on Miscarriages of Justice; Youth Violence: Prevention, Intervention, and Social Policy; Gangs in America (3 editions); and Convicted but Innocent: Wrongful Conviction and Public Policy (which won an Academic Book of the Year Award). Hazel Kierle has over 20 years’ experience as a legal assistant in criminal and civil cases. She was also the regional manager for Victim Support in the Midlands. For the last ten years she has been the Director of Miscarriages of Justice Organisation (MOJO) (England and Wales). MOJO is a human- rights-based organization that was founded in 1999 by Paddy Joe Hill (of the Birmingham Six case) and Mike O’Brien (of the Cardiff Newsagent Three case) to support miscarriage of justice victims and their families, and to attempt to redress the lack of welfare and aftercare provision for the wrongly imprisoned. MOJO (England and Wales) is affiliated to MOJO (Scotland) set up by Paddy Joe Hill and John McManus, a registered charity that is funded by the Scottish Executive to deliver aftercare services to qualifying clients. Kevin Kerrigan is a Reader and Associate Dean at the School of Law, Northumbria University. He is also a practising solicitor and Human Rights Act consultant with experience of conducting criminal and human rights cases in courts at all levels. His teaching and research interests are in the fields of criminal litigation, human rights and legal education. In particu- lar, he has an active interest in clinical legal education and runs a criminal appeal clinic at Northumbria University’s Student Law Office. He has written numerous articles and text books and delivered papers at academic confer- ences and training courses for professionals, including the police, lawyers, social workers, mental health professionals and court clerks. Glyn Maddocks is a Partner and the Head of the Civil Litigation Department of Gabb & Co. He specializes in all aspects of civil litigation, including, and in particular, personal injury, clinical negligence, public law and judicial review.
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