Convicting the innocent in Britain

As recently as last year, there were innocent men inside Britain's prisons - as these high-profile cases that were eventually ruled as wrongful convictions show.

Victor Nealon

Convicted: 1997

Time served: 17 years

Released: 2013

Nealon spent 17 years in prison for attempted sexual assault – though police officers never carried out DNA testing on the victim’s clothing. At his trial in 1997, the court was told that no DNA evidence was available. But privately funded DNA tests discovered that the victim’s clothes had been kept sealed and untested. In fact, the garments did contain DNA samples - from a man who wasn’t Nealon. The Criminal Cases Review Commission refused to investigate the evidence twice, and only carried out a review at Nealon’s third appeal. When Nealon was released in December 2013, he was given just £46 discharge money and spent his first night of freedom on the streets. This June, the Ministry of Justice ruled that Nealon would not get compensation for his 17 years behind bars.

　

Sam Hallam

Convicted: 2005

Time served: Seven years

Released: 2012

Hallam was 18 when he received a life sentence for the death of trainee chef Essayas Kassahun, but judges were told that Hallam was the victim of a "serious miscarriage of justice" when his conviction was quashed in 2012. Evidence from Hallam’s mobile phone showed he was not at the crime scene, and judges found that, for "reasons that escape us", his phone was not investigated by the police. Hallam also suffered the loss of his father, who committed suicide when Hallam was sent to prison. "He’s never going to get over his miscarriage of justice," says Dr Naughton.

Sam Hallam leaves the Court of Appeal with his mother Wendy and surrounded by jubilant friends

　

Barry George

Convicted: 2001

Time served: Eight years

Released: 2008

George was convicted of the murder of television presenter Jill Dando and was released after two trials and two appeals. His sentence was finally overturned after scientific evidence was ruled inadmissible by the trial judge. He was denied compensation and is taking his claim to the European Court of Human Rights.

　

Barry George spent eight years in prison after being wrongly convicted of the murder of TV presenter Jill Dando

　

Sally Clark

Convicted: 1999

Time served: Three years

Released: 2003

Clark was wrongfully sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of one young son in 1996, and another, a two-month old, in 1998. She was released after three years in jail after an expert witness, Professor Roy Meadow, was discredited. Meadow wrote in his book that "one sudden infant death is a tragedy, two is suspicious and three is murder, unless proven otherwise". He claimed in court that there is a one in 73 million chance of two cot deaths in a wealthy family, but the Royal Statistical Society said there was no basis for this claim. Following her release, other cases that relied on evidence from Meadow were re-examined, and another mother, Angela Cannings, also had her conviction for murder overturned. But Clark never recovered from her imprisonment and became an alcoholic. She died of alcohol poisoning in 2007.

As she left the High Court in 2003, Sally Clark said: 'There are no winners here.'

　

Paul Blackburn

Convicted: 1978

Time served: 25 years

Released: 2003

Blackburn spent a quarter of a century in prison after he was convicted, aged 15, for the sexual assault and attempted murder of a nine-year-old boy. The prosecution depended on a confession by Blackburn that was written after four hours of police interrogation. In 2005, appeal judges found that police "did not tell the truth" when they said that the confession was offered freely and in Blackburn’s own words. Blackburn says the statement was dictated to him, and expert testimony found it unlikely that a badly educated 15-year-old could have spelled so many technical terms correctly. The appeal court ruled that Blackburn’s confession should never have been considered evidence.

Asked if he could return to a normal life, Paul Blackburn said: "I don't know. What is a normal life after 25 years in there?'

　

Are innocent men still in prison today?

Miscarriages of justice will continue, says Dr Naughton, as long as our criminal justice system relies on unreliable forms of evidence, such as theories from expert witnesses, eyewitness identification and circumstantial evidence – all of which have been scientifically undermined.

Even DNA evidence can be discredited, due to problems with partial samples, mixed samples and "innocent transference". Dr Naughton explains that if two people shake hands, each will contain a trace of the other’s DNA. "I can then go into a pub that you’ve never been in or pick up a gun that you’ve never touched. I can shoot somebody with that gun and your DNA will be on that gun because I’ve transferred it. The public doesn’t know these things," says Dr Naughton.

And cases such as Blackburn reveal the problems with "parole deal" sentencing. Prisoners applying for parole are more likely to be released if they complete courses to show that they’ve reduced their risk of re-offending. Those that won’t admit their guilt and refuse to do so can end up with longer sentences than if they’d pleaded guilty, says Dr Naughton. "They end up in this limbo situation. We call it the parole deal, where prisoners maintaining innocence are trapped in prison," he adds.

One of the most high profile criminals who maintains his innocence today has been continually denied parole in part because he insists he is innocent. Raymond Gilbert was convicted of murder in 1981 and could have been released from prison in 1996 if he’d plead guilty. Instead, he is still in prison 33 years later.

Dr Naughton claims that the presumption of innocence leaves those accused of crime vulnerable to wrongful convictions because fewer resources are allocated to the defence team. Instead, the prosecution and police are well funded to chip away at the presumed innocent status.

He also makes a distinction between miscarriages of justice and "abortions of justice", where police actively undermine a fair trial. The Criminal Cases Review Commission was founded in response to just such a case, after police manufactured evidence against the Guilford Four and the Birmingham Six, who were accused of IRA bombings.

"There was a real crisis of confidence in the criminal justice system when those cases were revealed to be wrongful convictions," says Dr Naughton.

Original report here

　

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