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As a rule, successful applicants to the Court of Appeal need to thank their legal teams and, sometimes, campaigners. Earlier this month, however, when Alex Allan’s conviction for robbery was quashed, special thanks were due to Kevin Kerrigan, a law lecturer, and his students at the University of Northumbria.

A law office, offering a legal service to students only, had been in existence since 1980 at what was then Newcastle Polytechnic. However, in 1991 the rules for solicitors employed outside the legal profession (such as university lecturers) were amended, allowing them to practise on behalf of members of the public. This enabled the law office to open for business to allcomers, the first university law department to do so. The aim was both to offer a fully professional service and to provide invaluable casework experience for students.

The “live client” programme is a compulsory part of the fourth-year law degree course. In the 2000 to 2001 academic year, 120 students worked on real-life cases, taking responsibility for their own cases under the supervision of a qualified solicitor. One of these solicitors was Kerrigan, who became a full-time academic in 1990 and has combined this since 1996 with his work as a solicitor, specialising in criminal and human rights work.

Because the law centre is funded by the university for the benefit of its students, its costs were no drain on the legal system. Moreover, those fighting perceived injustice almost always fail at the first hurdle — they cannot afford to pay anyone to look at their papers to assess whether, in law, their case is a good one. By giving free advice, the law centre helps them over that critical first hurdle.

Alex Allan had been protesting his innocence since 1991, when he was given an eight-year sentence for robbery. But he had felt let down by lawyers at every turn. However, after his release in October 1996, he determined to pursue his case. “I was a bit cynical about solicitors by then,” he says, “but Liberty suggested I try the Student Law Office at Northumbria University.”

The case concerned the robbery of a post office van by three men. Since none of the eyewitness descriptions of the robbers fitted Allan, the prosecution case was founded on an admission he was alleged to have made to police at the time of his arrest.

Kerrigan read through the case papers and, even though the law centre had not been involved with a similar case before, decided to take it up. He noticed that not only did the circumstances of the alleged admission contravene the Police and Criminal Evidence Act in several respects (when Allan was being interviewed, and had supposedly made the admission, he was horizontal on the floor), but that Allan was never cautioned. The single most damning piece of evidence had not only been unreliable but also inadmissible.

“After a few weeks, I noticed how much work Kevin and the students were doing,” says Allan. “They were turning over every stone. Kevin has worked relentlessly and done more to get my case heard than I could ever have hoped for.”

The students interviewed witnesses and, under Kerrigan’s guidance, prepared a submission for the Criminal Cases Review Commission. They had a meeting in Birmingham with caseworkers, before the case was referred to appeal in 1998.

By then Kerrigan had persuaded Edward Fitzgerald, QC, to take on the case. The Court of Appeal court judges were somewhat nonplussed that a case could have gone through the entire legal process without anyone prior to the Student Law Office having pursued — or even necessarily noticed — the glaring point that Allan had not been cautioned.

However, they accepted Fitzgerald’s argument that it was unnecessary to consider questions of negligence of trial counsel; if the evidence should obviously not have been admitted, he argued, and if it had clearly had a prejudicial effect on the jury, that was sufficient.

Allan was welding in Southampton, doing ship-repair work, when he heard that his appeal had been successful. “I feel I’ve got my life back again,” he said, “but I never dreamt it would take 11 years.”

Because of the protracted legal process, it was impossible for the students originally involved with the case to see it through to its conclusion. Those involved in its final stages were Sue Hirst, 23, and Jennifer Blewett, 22. “It was wonderful to have one of the best barristers in the country acting in a case we’d actually worked on,” says Blewett.

The case has now become the most high-profile success of the Northumbria Student Law Office. Doubtless it can now expect to be inundated with pleas for legal assistance — although it is able to take on only a limited number of cases.

Some observers are now questioning whether this is a useful model for legal education. But it is interesting that there is a very different bias in the legal system in the United States, where law schools not only have a history of raising cases, including complex constitutional issues, but also the time and the expertise to do so successfully.

See also:
University of Northumbria School of Law website

A man who spent six years behind bars for a robbery he did not commit has had his conviction quashed after a group of law students took his case to the Court of Appeal.

Eight undergraduates at the University of Northumbria investigated Alex Allan's claim that he had been wrongly convicted as part of their studies. Yesterday they found out they had cleared his name after three judges ruled that Mr Allan had indeed been the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

After the decision Mr Allan, who always denied taking part in the raid on a post office van in 1990, praised the students for bringing the case to the attention of the courts. He said: "There's no way I could have done this without the help of the students at the university, including those who have worked on the case in previous years."

The students' success is made more remarkable by the fact that Mr Allan lost a previous appeal in 1994, when he was represented by a human rights organisation.

Mr Allan first contacted the university in 1997, soon after his release from prison, when he saw a university advertisement offering people free legal advice. For the past four years, two final-year law students at the university in Newcastle have each spent a year working on the appeal.

Mr Allan was sentenced to eight years in prison after a trial at Newcastle Crown Court, during which the prosecution relied on an alleged confession he made to police.

After being granted legal aid to pursue the appeal, the students and Kevin Kerrigan, a solicitor who lectures at the university's law school, made an application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which then referred the case to the Court of Appeal. Despite having legal aid only for junior counsel, the case was taken on by Edward Fitzgerald QC, a leading London criminal barrister, for junior rates because of the involvement of students.

On Tuesday, the Court of Appeal judges accepted that "there is a clear question mark of the reliability of the appellant's admission". The court also found that the robbery victim's description was almost completely at odds with Mr Allan's appearance.

Mr Allan, now in his 40s and working as a welder in Southampton, said after the hearing: "I can't believe it. It hasn't sunk in yet. It's 11 years out of my life and I'm just so relieved it's all over." He added: "I owe everything to a group of students who believed in me when others didn't and refused to allow a terrible miscarriage of justice go unnoticed."

Mr Kerrigan described the university's Student Law Office as a "radical approach" to legal training, which teaches students "real law and allows them to help real people". But he added: "We take cases on if they have an educational value to students."

The robbery took place in March 1990, when a post office van was held up outside a post office in Dudley, North Tyneside. One man smashed the van's front window, another tried to grab a bag from the back, and a fight broke out in which the postmaster was injured. The men escaped with two bags in a getaway car and went to a house in Burradon, North Tyneside.

Shortly afterwards, Alex Allan found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. He turned up at the house, owned by a friend, to find two men sorting through two bags of mail, and he walked through to the kitchen to keep out of their way. Just after he arrived, the door burst open and police officers charged in.

He was thrown to the floor before being taken away and charged with robbery and attacking the postmaster. As he awaited trial, he discovered police claimed to have asked him who had hit the postman, to which he allegedly replied: "I only hit him once."

Susan Hirst, one of the students working on the case in its final year, said: "I feel as though we have made a huge contribution to finally getting justice for Mr Allan, and learnt a huge amount about the legal system along the way."

Mr Allan is not planning to sue over his imprisonment, but he will apply to the Home Office for compensation for his years behind bars.

See also:
University of Northumbria School of Law website

A Group of law undergraduates have had a man's conviction for robbery quashed at a second hearing in the Court of Appeal.

Alex Allan's protests of innocence went unheeded by the judiciary while he served six years of an eight-year sentence.

He eventually found support from eight students at Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, who questioned the reliability of the evidence against him.

This week, three appeal judges in London quashed the conviction which had been upheld by the same court seven years ago.

After being granted a pardon, Mr Allan, 40, a shipyard welder, said: "I owe everything to a group of students who believed in me when others didn't."

He was jailed in 1991 after a raid on a Post Office van in which a man was seriously assaulted. The case was brought to the attention of the Student Law Office, a free legal advice service run by law degree students at Northumbria University, in 1997 by Liberty, the campaign group.

Students queried an alleged confession by Mr Allan which led them to make an application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. The commission referred the case to the Court of Appeal, a hearing took place in June and the judgment was announced on Tuesday.

In their ruling, the judges said there was "a clear question mark over the reliability of the appellant's admission".

The robbery occurred in March 1990 when the van was held up outside a post office in Dudley, North Tyneside, by two men. In the ensuing fight the postmaster was injured.

The men made off in a car with two mail bags, containing items valued at about £200, and went to a house in Burradon. Mr Allan arrived at the house, owned by a friend, as the men were sorting through the bags.

As he did so, the police arrived, pinned him to the floor and asked him who had hit the postmaster. He was alleged to have replied: "I only hit him once."

Mr Allan was convicted of robbery at Newcastle Crown Court in June 1991 and was jailed for eight years. Northumbria University, which runs a traditional law degree with a vocational course for trainee barristers, took up his case at the time of his release.

For the next four years, two students spent their final year working on a possible appeal. The final two to work on the case were and Jennifer Blewitt and Sue Hirst who have been awarded first-class degrees.

They took over last October and persuaded Edward Fitzgerald, QC, to represent them at junior barrister's rates.

Miss Hirst, 23, from Whickham, Gateshead, said: "I am overjoyed at the result. It has been a wonderful experience for all the student lawyers who worked on it. In a sense, it is too late for Mr Allan, but I know he is elated that he has finally been vindicated."

Miss Blewitt, 22, of Heaton, Newcastle, said: "We felt very strongly that Alex Allan was innocent and it has been a pleasure to work on his case and prove that was the case."

The other students involved in the case were Jonathan Finn, Amanda Archbold, William Ralston, Paul Kennedy, Mary-Ann Cooper and Christopher Grunert.

Kevin Kerrigan, the course tutor, said: "Everyone on this case worked hard to secure Mr Allan's pardon. The two girls, in particular, have worked hard liaising with the CPS preparing papers and instructing the barrister who was very impressed by what they have achieved."

Mr Allen, a father of two who has resumed work as a welder, is not planning to sue over his imprisonment, but is to apply to the Home Office for compensation.

He said: "I can't thank these young people enough for believing in me and working so hard on my part. They are going to go a long way in their careers if my case is anything to go by."

"I have served six years in prison for a crime I didn't commit and of course I am bitter and angry about that. But just now I feel nothing but elation that I have finally been proved innocent."

Mr Fitzgerald said the students' work on the case was "outstanding". He said: "They reviewed the evidence and reconstructed the case piece by piece.

"Having gathered sufficient evidence they then succeeded in getting the case back before the Court of Appeal, which is very difficult these days."

See also:
University of Northumbria School of Law website

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