Investigating Alleged Miscarriages of Justice

Since we were founded in 2010 Inside Justice has always punched above its weight delivering casework investigations, providing free access to experts and highlighting individual and systemic failings. Our casework empowers individuals convicted of a crime they say they did not commit but our vision is to deliver justice by working with statutory partners to achieve a fair and transparent criminal justice system for all.

Twitter feedback on BBC Conviction Series

Louise Shorter once more not shy of asking difficult & awkward questions. Really important to those investigating Miscarriages of Justice. Sometimes you need to ask questions that might not give you the answer that you would like.

What a truly compelling programme. You just cannot take your eyes off the screen - more please and soon

Once again Conviction has proved to be a masterful piece of television. A compelling case expertly investigated by Louise Shorter. Definitely a must watch! #MurderInSuburbia

It’s been a joy to see the the work of @insidejusticeUK on #BBC2 this week. Louise Shorter and her team are a cracking example of brilliant women leading the way and making a difference. #conviction2

Why We Need Your Help

Our work is only possible through charitable donations and the generous support of the public. We do the work we do because we believe everybody deserves justice. We care because a wrongful conviction destroys lives and trust. A wrongful conviction leaves dangerous people at large to create more victims.

We have built an Advisory Panel of experts who give their time for free because they care. Help us, help others in need.

Featured Updates

‘Lady in the Lake’ Conviction Appealed

(Posted on 06/11/19)

A posthumous appeal against Gordon Park’s 2005 conviction for his wife’s murder has been heard at the Court of Appeal after his son Jeremy brought the case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). Henry Blaxland QC, for the CCRC, told the court on Tuesday that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) did not disclose evidence undermining the credibility of a key witness to whom the school teacher allegedly confessed in prison. ... Read more...

Crime Up, Prosecutions Down

(Posted on 04/09/19)

Ministry of Justice figures show the number of people being prosecuted or handed out-of-court warnings or fines has fallen to its lowest level since records began, whilst recorded crime continues to rise. Between April 2018 and March 2019, 1.59 million people were formally dealt with by the criminal justice system in England and Wales, representing a 2% fall of on the previous period. The number of serious crimes dealt with... Read more...

Downward trend in number of miscarriage of justice cases being referred continues for third year

By Jon Robins on 29/07/19

The miscarriage of justice watchdog referred just 13 cases back to the Court of Appeal last year, representing the second lowest number of referrals in its 22 year history. Over the first two decades the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) sent 33 cases a year on average back to the Appeal judges however the number referrals collapsed with just a dozen in 2017 and still has not recovered. Read more...

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Testimonials

Inside Justice took up our son’s Miscarriage of Justice case and have worked tirelessly to get the case to appeal.

We would have been lost without the time, effort and support of their team. We really cannot thank them enough.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
Paul Blackburn, 25 years

Jailed for life aged 15 for the attempted murder and sexual assault of a younger boy in 1978.

Conviction reversed 2005, in the process labelling the two Cheshire police officers who led the case as perjurers.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
Birmingham Six, 17 years

Convicted of the IRA bombing of the Mulberry Bush and Tavern pubs in 1974 & murder of 21 people.

Campaign chaired by Paul May from 1985. Convictions quashed 1991. New scientific tests showed statements were altered at a later date, original forensic test results were discredited.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
Bridgewater Four, 18 years

Convicted of the murder of 13-year-old paperboy Carl Bridgewater on a forged confession. Patrick Molloy died in custody in 1981.

Campaign chaired by Paul May 1993-6. Convictions quashed 1998, Henry Blaxland junior counsel.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
Robert Brown, 25 years

Jailed for bludgeoning Annie Walsh to death in her flat in Hulme, Manchester in 1977. Freed in 2002 after evidence of police corruption, bullying and non-disclosure of vital evidence.

Details of widespread corruption within the squad were known to the Home Office and Manchester police in 1983.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
Thomas Campbell, 20 years (Scotland)

Convicted in 1984, along with Joe Steele, of the murder of 6 members of the Doyle family by Strathclyde Police. Conviction fabricated by Police officers, and the false testament of William Love.

Briefly released in 1997 before an appeal hearing in 1998, but again imprisoned when it failed. Conviction quashed 2004.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
Cardiff Three, 4 years

Convicted for the murder of Lynette White in 1988. Cleared on appeal in 1992.

In 2003 new DNA techniques identified the real killer as Jeffrey Gafoor, who confessed to White’s murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. 4 years in custody.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
Sally Clarke, 3 years

Convicted in 1999 for smothering 11-week-old son Christopher in 1996 and shaking eight-week-old Harry to death two years later. She maintained that they died of cot death syndrome.

Convictions quashed 2003. Died aged 42 in 2007.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
Paul and Wayne Darvell, 7 years

Convicted, on the basis of Wayne’s alleged confession of murdering Sandra Phillips in 1986. The 38-year-old had been strangled, beaten and sexually assaulted.

Freed in 1992 after a campaign led by the BBC's Rough Justice television programme. Paul found dead in 2005, aged 42.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
Stephen Downing, 27 years

Convicted of the murder of Wendy Sewell in 1973, infamously known as the ‘Bakewell Tart Murder’, on the strength of his ‘confession’ and in the face of contradictory evidence.

Conviction quashed 2002 after years of campaigning by his parents and Don Hale, editor of the Matlock Mercury newspaper.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
Reg Dudley and Bob Maynard, 22 years

Convicted in 1977, on the strength of an alleged confession, of two murders in 1974, after Britain’s longest criminal trial.

Convictions quashed 2002, Henry Blaxland junior counsel.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
East Ham Two, 6 years

Two Tamil men wrongly convicted of a firebombing in which three Tamil people were murdered. Sam Kulasingham staged a 53 day hunger strike protesting his innocence in 1992.

Convictions quashed 1994 based on "wholesale breaches" of PACE, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
Barry George, 8 years

Convicted in 2001 of the murder of Jill Dando, a BBC TV presenter shot dead outside her home in Fulham, west London, in April 1999.

Acquitted at a retrial in 2008 but denied compensation.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
Guildford Four, 15 years

Jailed for the IRA bombing of the Horse & Groom pub in 1974. Convictions overturned in 1989 when solicitor Gareth Peirce found crucial alibi evidence, proving Conlon could not been the bomber. There was also evidence of police collusion on fabricating the statements, the only evidence produced against them at the original trial.

Apology from Tony Blair 2005.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
Sam Hallam, 7 years

Jailed in 2005 over the death of Essayas Kassahun in Clerkenwell, London.

Conviction quashed 2012 after a campaign led by Paul May. Photographs on Mr Hallam's mobile phone which would have helped his defence were not shown at trial (lead counsel Henry Blaxland QC, junior Peter Wilcock).

Library of historic wrongful convictions
Sean (Robert) Hodgson, 27 years

Jailed for the 1979 murder of Teresa De Simone in Southampton.

Conviction quashed 2009 after advances in DNA testing showed he was innocent and another man, David Lace, who killed himself in 1988, was the likely killer. Died 2012.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
John Kamara, 20 years

Alleged to have been one of two men who murdered stammering bookmaker John Suffield in 1981 during a robbery because he could not tell them the combination of the safe.

Conviction quashed in 2000 after the judges were told 201 statements had been "hidden" by police.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
Stefan Kiszko, 16 years

Convicted of the (sexual) murder of a young girl in 1976. Released in 1992, he died of a heart attack the following year aged 44.

Stefan Kiszko suffered from XYY syndrome and would have been physically incapable of the sex crime. Conviction quashed thanks to solicitor Campbell Malone.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
Maguire Seven, 10 years

Jailed for possession of explosives for the IRA Guildford bombings in 1974. Patrick Jr was 13. Giuseppe Conlon had travelled from Belfast to help his son Gerry in the Guildford Four trial. He died in prison in 1980.

Convictions quashed 1991 thanks to human rights solicitor Gareth Peirce.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
Tottenham Three, 6 years

Winston Silcott, Engin Raghip and Mark Braithwaite. Convicted of the murder of PC Keith Blakelock at the Broadwater Farm riots in North London in 1985.

Convictions quashed 1991 after forensic tests on pages of key interview records suggested they had been fabricated.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
Judith Ward, 18 years

Convicted in 1974 at the age of 25 for bombing a coach on the M62 motorway.

Conviction quashed 1992 thanks to Michael Farrell (Dublin-based journalist and lawyer) and Gareth Peirce and after a campaign chaired by Paul May.

Library of historic wrongful convictions
Barri White, 6 years

Convicted in 2000 of the murder of his girlfriend Rachel Manning in Milton Keynes. Barri and his friend Keith Hyatt’s convictions quashed after Louise Shorter and Mark Daly’s BBC Rough Justice documentary questioned the forensic evidence used to convict them.

Cleared after a re-trial in 2008.