Convicted of a murder in London 35 years ago, the Criminal Cases Review Commission has referred John Heibner's case for a second appeal. Heibner was in prison for over 25 years.. "Having considered a rage of issues, including the admissibility and treatment of confession evidence at trial, and new evidence relating to a witness at trial, the commission is referring the conviction to the court of appeal because it considers that there is a real possibility that the court may not uphold the conviction," said a spokesperson for the CCRC, quoted in the Guardian. His lawyer, Rhona Friedman, described the case as "an extraordinarily murky episode in our criminal justice system." Heibner was known to police as an armed robber and the time of the murder was facing a 15-year sentence for an armed robbery to which he had admitted. The main evidence against him was a confession which Heibner contested at the trial. Lord Ramsbotham, the former chief inspector of prisons, has made a number of calls for his case to be referred back. The Rev Nick Stacey, former director of social services for Kent, who met Heibner when he was in Maidstone prison, became convinced of his innocence and has written to successive home secretaries on his behalf. Read more in On 16 May 2011, at a hearing before the appeal court, Henry Blaxland QC, for Heibner, said the appeal centred around the “overall integrity of the investigation” into the murder. He called for the records of six investigating police officers, both from before and since Heibner’s conviction, to be disclosed to his legal team. But Sarah Whitehouse, for the Crown, said that, after two Home Office-led inquiries, and one investigation by the CCRC, there is already a vast amount of information for the two police officers now investigating the case to trawl through. Interview tapes from the time were so old they “might not survive being played”. Lord Justice Pitchford ordered the disclosure of interview transcripts from the time, adding that the tapes should only be listened to if that is deemed necessary by Mr Heibner’s legal team. He also ordered disclosure of a number of documents demanded by defence counsel, including police notebooks from the time. - from an article by Rob Bleaney in the Islington Gazette 16 May 2011 - click here to read more |
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Errol Heibner's application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission was rejected, but now the CCRC has received 'confidential information' that has caused it to reconsider its decision... Read more in |
article by Duncan Campbell
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