You Call This Justice?

In 1975 Paddy Hill was one of six innocent men wrongly convicted of the Birmingham pub bombings which killed 21 people and injured 182. Upon his release in 1991 he promised to help those he had left behind and in 2001 he set up MOJO to give a voice to the innocent.

In this episode, I talk to Euan (MOJO’s Legal Officer) about the work the charity does to try and help people who have been wrongly convicted; the short and long term challenges their clients face as a result of being a victim of a miscarriage of justice; and he gives us a real insight into the key aspects of the Scottish Legal System – including the controversial ‘not proven’ verdict and a jury system which means people can be convicted by a simple majority of 8-7. I also talk to two of the students who have been working with MOJO, about how they want to ensure that we learn from the past to prevent innocent people from being convicted in the future.

It is everyones worst nightmare to be wrongly accused of historical sex offences. This is what happened to Jimmy Boyle who at the time, was a well respected teacher in Scotland. He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to over 10 years imprisonment for crimes he did not commit. Eventually, his conviction was overturned and he was acquitted of all of the charges at the re-trial.

This is a relevant story to what is currently happening in the criminal justice system as far too often, people who have been wrongly convicted of criminal offences struggle to return to the life they had before despite so much support including; in Jimmy's case from parents and former students. Tragically miscarriage of justice victims are often stigmatised by other authorities who ignore the fact that their name have been cleared. Jimmy's story also highlights the concerns raised by many in relation to the 'not proven' verdict which means exactly the same in law as a 'not guilty' verdict but is often wrongly interpreted by others to the detriment of the person who has been acquitted.

Since Mike was released he has become an award winning author and he campaigns for the wrongly convicted people he left behind. In this episode we talk about the work he has done including; helping people in police interviews as an appropriate adult and helping people in the family court as a Mackenzie friend.

We also talk about the death penalty because if the death penalty had still been in place Mike and others including his co-accused, the Guildford Four, Birmingham Six, Barry George and many, many others would have been hanged. Like the last man to executed in Cardiff, Mahmood Mattan who was later proved to be innocent. His gravestone reads; 'killed by injustice.'

In this episode, Mike and I have an open and frank discussion about some difficult issues regarding our criminal justice system.

On Valentines Day 1988, Lynette White was brutally murdered in Cardiff. The police made a public appeal on crime watch and said that they were looking for a white male who was seen by a witness near the scene of the crime with an injured hand/blood on him. However, in November 1988 they charged five innocent black and mixed race men with the murder including, John Actie despite there being no forensic evidence to link any of them to the offence and the blood of an unidentified person being found at the scene.

Although John was acquitted at the trial which took place two years after he was charged, many of the police told the community including Lynette’s family that he had got away with the crime. The perception of “there is no smoke without fire” continued to haunt John until the eventual killer, who was a white male, was identified in January 2002. What happened was horrific and the level of police corruption regarding the investigation shocked the criminal justice system to its core.

The Post Office states on their website that: -"It is a business which really matters. A business which has had a key role in UK life for centuries. One which millions of people depend on every day, every week." However, the Post Office Scandal will be the largest scale UK miscarriage of justice that this country has ever seen. In this episode I talk to barrister Lynton Orrett, from Michael Mansfield's Chambers about the background to the case and what happened in the recent April appeal. I also talk to Scott Darlington, who was a victim of this miscarriage of justice about what happened to him and finally, I talk to Marion Holmes whose late husband Peter, a former police officer tragically died before his conviction was overturned. These cases bring shame to the Post Office, one of the oldest British institutions - they have failed so many.