INNOCENT - Fighting miscarriages of justice

Innocent
Dept. 54, PO Box 282, Oldham OL1 3FY

Immediate 12 October 2005

INNOCENT announces that it is proud to be hosting the 4th National Miscarriage of Justice Day Public Meeting on behalf of United Against Injustice, the national federation of support and campaign groups for miscarriage of justice victims.
Dr Michael Naughton of Bristol University School of Law has calculated that each year over 4000 convictions are overturned by the courts. Miscarriages of justice are routine events. They can happen to any of us.
INNOCENT and UAI are calling upon the press, television and radio to support our work in Raising the Profile of Miscarriage of Justice - the theme of this year's meeting.

The meeting will take place at the Friends Meeting House, Mount Street, Manchester M2 on Saturday 15 October 2005.

Workshop programme
10.30 - 11.15 documents workshop - Kevin McMahon and Dr Andrew Green
11.30 - 12.15 data protection workshop - Doreen Strettle
12.15 - 01.00 identification workshop - Steve Crampton

Between 1 and 2 pm campaigners will be out in Albert Square, close to the meeting.

The main meeting will run from 2.00 to 5.30 pm.

It will be chaired by Bruce Kent (nationally famous peace campaigner)
and introduced by Kevin McMahon (former Merseyside police detective, now the chair of Merseyside Against Injustice and spokesperson for UAI)
Speakers:
Mark Daly (BBC Rough Justice Reporter who exposed racism in Stockport police force)
Susan May (innocent, although still convicted of murder, from Oldham)
Dr Graham Smith (Lecturer at Manchester University School of Law)
Graham Huckerby (wrongly convicted of £6.5m Salford armed robbery)
Dr Michael Naughton (University of Bristol Innocence Project, Lecturer in Law)
Gary Horne (director of TV programmes on miscarriages of justice)
Paul Blackburn (wrongly convicted of attempted murder, Warrington 1978)

For more information on INNOCENT and on United Against Injustice, or on any of the speakers; for arranging interviews before or at the event; for pictures of speakers; for contacts with local groups, email innocent@fitting-up.org.uk
Alternatively visit our websites:
www.innocent.org.uk
www.unitedagainstinjustice.org.uk (links to information about speakers)

end

Innocent
Dept. 54, PO Box 282, Oldham OL1 3FY

IMMEDIATE 5 May 2005

We are very sorry to have to announce the death of Andrew Pountley. Andrew died of natural causes in his cell in Frankland Prison on Thursday 28 April 2005, aged 40.
A post mortem examination of his body has been carried out. An inquest has been opened and adjourned.
Andrew was serving a life sentence for a murder which he did not commit. INNOCENT will continue to work with his family to clear his name. Please read the page about Andrew's case.
The date and place of the funeral will be announced shortly.
Donations in memory of Andrew will be used to establish a fund to assist with the fight to clear Andrew's name and with the cases of innocent people who have been wrongly convicted of serious crimes. Cheques should be made out to "Innocent Trust" (address on contacts page).

For more information: www.innocent.org.uk
innocent@innocent.org.uk

Innocent
Dept. 54, PO Box 282, Oldham OL1 3FY

IMMEDIATE 10 February 2005

Anger at Blair apology to Guildford Four and Maguire Seven

Members of INNOCENT, the Manchester-based group of families and friends of miscarriage of justice victims reacted angrily to Tony Blair’s apology to the Guildford Four and Maguire Seven.

They were very pleased for these eleven victims and their families. What miscarriage of justice victims want above all, more than any amount of compensation, is an apology. But so do all the other numerous miscarriage of justice victims.

Chairperson of INNOCENT Ann Craven addressed the following personal message to Tony Blair, reflecting the feelings of the whole group:

“How dare you apologise to these eleven people and not for my son who suffered a miscarriage of justice and spent time in one of your prisons, after having his conviction quashed by the Courts of Justice he was denied any compensation or help nor an apology from any government department, the trauma we as a family went through was not different than the said above. The trauma my son went through being in prison for a crime he had not committed was terrible, he still has not fully recovered from the time he spent in prison, he also has flashbacks, but will he get any help from you or an apology, I DON’T THINK SO. Because he is not political and you have nothing to gain by apologising to him as he is neither Irish nor American, only English.

“What of the other miscarriages of justice that have happened in this country by the government system? Kevin Callan who has died - if he had help when his conviction was quashed he might be alive today so you don’t have to apologise to him, but his family who suffered could do with an apology. Will they get one? I DON’T THINK SO. Because they also are not political.

“Also will Graham Huckerby who has just had his conviction quashed by the Courts of justice, get an apology from you? I DON’T THINK SO. Because he is not political.

“There is a long list of miscarriages of justice but will you bother with any of them? I DON’T THINK SO. Unless they are political and you need to cultivate favours, you will not bother at all.”

Dr Michael Naughton, who lectures in law at Bristol University, added:

“Any acknowledgement from Government that innocent people are wrongly convicted by the criminal justice system is welcome. We invite the Prime Minister to engage in a serious dialogue about the inevitability of innocent people being wrongly convicted and the difficulties they face in trying to overturn their wrongful convictions through the existing mechanisms.

“When convictions are quashed it is because the previous criminal conviction is 'unsafe' not because the wrongly convicted are innocent. So we wait to see if the Prime Minister's apology represents a shift in criminal justice process and a more meaningful debate about the wrongful conviction of the innocent and the possibility of judicial recognition of the problem.

“ By singling out an individual case from 30 years ago the impression is that wrongful convictions are rare and exceptional. This runs counter to the fact that since 1986, for example, when the Police and Criminal Evidence Act came into force, and we were told that there would not be any more miscarriages of justice, there have been over 85,000 successful appeals against criminal conviction in England and Wales, or around 25 successful appeals a day - indicating that 'justice in error' is a routine feature of the criminal justice process.

“We agree that the apology to the Guildford 4 and Maguire 7 will help those individuals to move forward with their lives and give them a certain finality about their miscarriages of justice.

“The problem is, though, that it only exacerbates the harm to other victims. I have already had Paddy Hill from the Birmingham 6 and Mike O' Brien from the Cardiff Newsagent 3 on the phone and their question is: where are our apologies? They want to know if the Government believe them to be guilty!”

Dr Andrew Green, co-founder of INNOCENT, said:

“Tony Blair’s apology might appear to suggest that the government is sympathetic to miscarriage of justice victims, and that it is opposed to wrongful convictions. But the record suggests otherwise.

“The prison service throws exonerated prisoners out on the street without money to live on, while his officials have even forced victims to pay for board and lodging while they were wrongly imprisoned.

“This government’s legislation, such as restrictions on rights to disclosure of the results of police investigations, can only increase the number of miscarriages of justice. Ministers have argued for a reduction in the rights of defendants, so that the police can more easily obtain convictions against those they think are guilty – inevitably leading to more miscarriages of justice.”

For more information: www.innocent.org.uk
emailinnocent@innocent.org.uk
Dr Michael Naughton M.Naughton@bristol.ac.uk Office: 0117 954 5323
See also letter to Tony Blair from Sue Kelly

Marcel Berlins adds
Tuesday February 15, 2005
The Guardian

Tony Blair's apology to the Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven left me a little uneasy. It's not that the recipients of such a gesture didn't deserve it; but the prime minister's intervention immediately introduced an element of discrimination between various miscarriages of justice. Paddy Hill, one of the Birmingham Six and now running a much-needed organisation, Mojo, which helps miscarriage of justice victims cope with the world outside after their release, asked, quite understandably, why similar apologies aren't being dished out to the Six and many others whose convictions have been overturned only after they've spent many years in prison. What worries me is that the Blair apology could be seen, first, as distinguishing between different levels of miscarriages. What are we to think if he doesn't now say sorry to the Birmingham Six? Is it that the Guildford/ Maguire campaign had better PR? Or does the prime minister or his advisers believe that the Birmingham Six were somehow less innocent, or that they didn't have as hard a time in prison? There's another unfortunate distinction that his apology suggests: that wrongful convictions with an Irish element to them are, for reasons of current political policy, more worthy of the prime minister's apologetic intervention than miscarriages of justice arising from "ordinary" murders. Tony Blair should not have started to travel down the sorry-sorry road. It is full of potholes.