University of Bristol Innocence Project www.innocencenetwork.org.uk
innocence network
UK
‘Educating to overturn and prevent the wrongful conviction of innocent people.’
Innocence Projects Day 2009
Outreach!
National Pro Bono Week, 9-13 November 2009
University of Bristol Innocence Project www.innocencenetwork.org.uk
University of Bristol Innocence Project www.innocencenetwork.org.uk The Innocence Projects Day coincides, annually, with National Pro Bono Week. It invites staff and students from the 20+ member university innocence projects to reach out to their local communities to educate the public about the wrongful conviction and imprisonment of the innocent, which led to the establishment of the Innocence Network UK (INUK) and its member innocence projects:
• The Criminal Justice System is a flawed human system!
• Police misconduct and shoddy police investigations can occur; prosecutors can fail to disclose vital evidence; forensic science expert witnesses can get it wrong; false allegations can be made; and defence lawyers can give inadequate defence to their clients - causing innocent individuals to fall prey to wrongful convictions and imprisonment!
• There are almost 5,000 successful appeals against criminal conviction in England and Wales each year – 20 a day!
• The Prison Service and the Parole Board work on the untenable basis that all prisoners were correctly convicted by the courts making no concession at all for the possibility of innocent prisoners!
• There are many thousands of prisoners maintaining innocence who may never be released from prisoners as they will not show remorse for crimes that they say they did not commit!
• Victims of wrongful convictions and their families suffer psychological and financial damage and forms of social stigma for the rest of their lives!
• The Criminal Cases Review Commission was set up in response to the cases of the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six, but it cannot guarantee that innocent victims of wrongful conviction will have their cases referred back to the Court of Appeal!
• Since the establishment of the INUK in 2004, there are currently approximately 500 students in universities in the UK working on over 50 cases of life-sentenced prisoners maintaining innocence!
University of Bristol Innocence Project www.innocencenetwork.org.uk
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Can we have confidence in our criminal justice system?
The ‘Cardiff Newsagent Three’ spent over 30 years in prison between them after police coerced a vulnerable suspect into making a false confession for a murder they did not commit.
(Right) The ‘Cardiff Newsagent Three’: Darren Hall, Michael O’Brien & Ellis Sherwood
Reg Dudley & Bob Maynard each
served over 20 years of wrongful imprisonment after an informant made a ‘bargain’ with the police to These notorious
give false evidence against the miscarriages of justice two in exchange for a reduced prison sentence. only represent the tip of the iceberg. (Left) Reg Dudley who was 77 years old when his murder conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2002. On average, there are around 5000 successful John Kamara spent 20 years of wrongful appeals against imprisonment for murder criminal convictions in because the police England & Wales each deliberately failed to disclose over 200 witness year – 20 each day! statements which proved
his innocence. (Above) John Kamara who was aged 24 when he was convicted and in his . 40s by the time he was released.
Andrew Adams spent 15 years in prison following inadequate legal representation by his defence solicitors and counsel; material non-
disclosure by the prosecution; and errors in the summing up by the trial judge.
(Left) Andrew Adams who was only 22 when he was wrongly convicted and given a life- sentence for murder.
Warren Blackwell, father of two young children, spent 3 years and 4 months wrongly imprisoned for sexual assault following a false allegation made by a mentally ill woman with a history of making false accusations against men. (Right) Father of two, Warren Blackwell, who overturned his conviction in 2006 after a seven-year battle to clear his name.
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Mothers Sally Clark and Angela Cannings were both given life sentences for murdering their children
following flawed expert testimonies given by discredited expert witness, Prof. Sir Roy Meadows. Their
Sally Clark who died at the age of Angela Cannings who spent 18 convictions were quashed in 2003 after 42, four years after her murder months in prison and 4 year forced it was revealed that their children have convictions were quashed in separation from her only surviving most likely died of natural causes. 2003. daughter until her convictions were overturned in 2003.
Paul Blackburn was only 14 years old The longest serving when he was coerced by the police into signing a false confession for victims of miscarriage attempted murder and subsequently of justice, both Paul spent the next 25 years of his life Blackburn and Robert behind bars until his conviction was quashed in 2005. Brown were imprisoned
for more than a decade (Right) Convicted as a teenager and released in his past their sentence 40s, Paul Blackburn could have been freed a decade earlier had he admitted his guilt. tariff due to the ‘parole
deal’ which prevented Robert Brown spent 25 years in prison after prisoners maintaining he was physically tortured and abused by the
innocence from police into making a false confession for murder. His conviction was quashed in 2002 progressing through after the Court of Appeal heard evidence of
the prison system and serious police corruption and abuse. achieving release.
(Left) Like Paul Blackburn, Robert Brown would have been eligible for parole a decade earlier but remained in prison as he refused to admit his guilt.
It is unlikely that the Guildford
Four and the Birmingham Six will overturn their
convictions today!
The Guildford Four (left) and the Birmingham Six (right) overturned their convictions for the IRA-related bombings in the 1970s and 80s after spending more than 15 years of wrongful imprisonment each.
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