MANY DUBIOUS CONVICTIONS BUT YEARS OF WAITING JUST TO GET AN APPEAL HEARD IN SCOTLAND

No escaping Scotland's crooked police

Innocent people may be languishing in Scottish jails for years because of a backlog in the appeal system. This week saw a major drive to tackle the bottleneck with several special sessions of the appeal court - but only to help convicted killers. The hearings were forced as lifers exercised their European Human Rights to query the length of their jail terms. Yet as the guilty skip the queue, those with questionable convictions are left rotting behind bars.

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) which investigates alleged miscarriages of justice, has referred 15 cases that have still to be heard by the High Court. They date as far back as 2001. John McManus, of the Miscarriages of Justice Organisation, has accused the system of 'psychologically torturing' the potentially falsely accused. He said: 'It's a terrible indictment of the system that possible innocent victims can rot in jail, waiting sometimes up until five years, to have their appeal against conviction heard. 'In the meantime, guilty offenders questioning their length of sentence can be fast-tracked in front of them. It is psychological torture.'

One of the worst delays has been for Steven Johnston, 42, who was jailed in March 1996 for the murder of Andrew Forsyth in Dunfermline. His case was referred to the High Court in June 2001 by the SCCRC as a potential miscarriage of justice, but has yet to be heard. An investigation by the SCCRC discovered Fife police had suppressed crucial witness statements from the Crown that may have freed Johnston and his co-accused Billy Allison. Allison admitted to having a fight with Mr Forsyth at his home on November 3 1995, but claimed it only lasted a couple of minutes before Johnston split it up. The Crown claimed the men left Mr Forsyth murdered in his flat before his body was discovered six days later by his mother.

However, several witnesses claim to have seen Forsyth alive as late as November 8. But at least six statements were withheld from the Crown by the police. Crucially, Lord Macfadyen told the trial jury: 'If it is not proved beyond reasonable doubt that the deceased was killed on November 3 the Crown case fails and the accused are entitled to be acquitted.' In its review of the conviction the SCCRC concluded: 'The police took it upon themselves to filter out the existence of witnesses whose evidence might point to the deceased having been alive after November 3.' One witness, Michael Healy, could have testified to having spoken to Forsyth in his shop on November 4. Karen Wheelwright said she spoke to him on the street in November 6 and Michael Franklin said he saw him having a pint at Jinty's pub in Dunfermline on November 8.

The SCCRC report said: 'The quality of evidence which they might have been able to give at that time would have been such that there is a strong possibility that it would have had an influence on the decision of the jury.' But despite the strong grounds of appeal, Johnston is still waiting. Last night speaking from Perth Prison, Johnston said the last few years had been terrible. He said: 'It is so stressful. The not knowing is awful. It took three months to convict me on trumped-up charges so why have I been waiting four years for an appeal?' He said he has been given several dates in the past, but all have been cancelled.

It is possible his appeal may go ahead in October, but he now refuses to get his hopes up. He said: 'Before I used to get excited when I was given a date, but after all these years I don't any more. I just don't trust the system to deliver. I just need to know now so that I can move on with my life.'

Thomas TC Campbell, cleared of the notorious ice cream war murders, said even being released pending an appeal is nothing like real freedom. After a 20-year fight Campbell and his co-accused Joe Steele won their fight, but they had 10 years of being dragged through the appeal system before their names were cleared last year. Campbell said: 'It can take three to four months from prosecution to conviction, but four years to undo a serious miscarriage of justice. 'As time goes on it is like waiting on death row, waiting to see whether you will live or die, because psychologically it is the same kind of pressure.' He said many innocent accused have already taken years for their case to even reach the SCCRC and that waiting for the appeal is the final straw.

Steele and Campbell were granted interim liberation on their first appeal, but he said it was like living in 'no man's land'. Campbell said: 'Your life can't begin and it can't stop, you are sitting in no man's land. You are standing still, waiting on your name being clear. 'Physically and technically some of these people might be out on the street, but psychologically they are still in prison. 'They can't adapt back to society because they are mentally in chains waiting for that conviction to be overturned.'

Convicted killer William Gage is serving life in Shotts for a gangland hit that his own trial judge is not convinced he committed. Despite assurances that his case would be fast-tracked, haggling between his lawyers and the Crown means his appeal has not yet been heard. In a report for his appeal his trial judge Lord Elmslie said the evidence against Gage would have failed to convince many juries to convict. Gage was convicted for the shooting of drug dealer Justin McAlroy in March 2002. He has now been given a date for appeal on September 20, but on the three previous occasions it has been delayed. Speaking from prison he said last night: 'It is agony having to wait. I feel like I have been buried alive and that no matter how hard I scream for help the authorities don't seem to care.'

Brian Wilson and Ian Murray have been freed on life licence after being convicted of murdering Murray's sister Alison in 1986. The pair were both 18 when they confessed to strangling her in the Bluebell woods in Drumchapel, Glasgow. They served their full sentence, but are now desperately trying to clear their names in an appeal. Their case was referred to the High Court by the SCCRC in June last year. A psychologist told the SCCRC that the confessions may have been unsound and made under duress and pressure from the police. There was no forensic evidence and crucially, both men claimed they had strangled her with her bra.

The Scottish Executive was forced to introduce the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (Scotland) Act this year to address the problem of delays in the High Courts. A spokesman for the Executive said it had recognised the backlog problem in 2003. It hired extra sheriffs as temporary judges to free permanent judges to sit on additional appeal courts to help clear the pile-up. But there have been only seven additional permanent judges appointed since 1999. A spokesman for the Scottish Court Service said it was aiming to supply all waiting SCCRC referrals an appeal date by the end of the year

Report here


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