Day in the Life: Inside Justice’s Head of Casework
(Posted on 27/11/25)
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By Nora Holford
As Head of Casework, I oversee all applications to Inside Justice from prisoners who believe they have been wrongly convicted. Each day is different — from assessing new evidence and liaising with experts to supporting volunteer caseworkers and managing relationships with the CCRC. Here’s what a typical day looks like.
I started the day with a review of ‘pending cases’ – one is a murder case, where a young man was convicted of murder as a ‘principal offender’ despite the fatal blow being delivered by one or both of his co-defendants. This is a conviction under the ‘Joint Enterprise’ legal doctrine, which allows individuals to be convicted of a crime if they encouraged, assisted, or had a common purpose with another person who committed it, even if they did not physically carry out the act. These are difficult cases to progress, and we were seeking further key case papers to clarify the critical points. Unfortunately, the applicant and his main supporter are no longer communicating with us so no progress can be made. Sadly, this means we will have to close the case, so the team can focus on other cases. Obviously if the applicant reconnects (and many do) we can still progress the case, if the key documents can be located.
After dealing with Joint Enterprise case, I contacted a prison to set up a video call with another of our applicants. This will be key to clarifying specific points. These video calls are an excellent way of progressing case, however, are a bit of a minefield in getting them arranged as each prison has its own process. Step one of having my details added to the applicant’s ‘approved visitor list’ had already been completed with the assistance of his supporters. Later I received the email back setting out this prison’s process, which I will progress over the next few days.
Following our staff team meeting last week, I updated our actions log, closed completed actions and added any new ones. I circulated this revised log to the team for comment and action!
During the morning, I received a reply from the CCRC (Criminal Cases Review Commission,the body that investigates potential miscarriages of justice), from one of the Case Managers regarding one of the applications we currently have lodged with the CCRC – a positive email agreeing to steps to progressing key forensic work, that we have been asking for some time. I acknowledged the email and then forwarded it to the Inside Justice Experts on the case so that we can respond.
The rest of the day was taken up with replying to emails and catching up with admin, such as sending out our Application Form and Confidentiality Agreement to a potential new caseworker.
It’s days like this that remind me how vital persistence and attention to detail are in seeking justice for those who may have been wrongly convicted.
