You Call This Justice?

This trailer gives you an insight into the forthcoming podcast series that looks at high profile UK Miscarriage of Justice cases where my guests share their harrowing experiences of the UK 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.

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.

Over 700 subpostmasters/subpostmistresses were convicted of a number of offences based on information from the Horizon system over a 14 year period. Many peoples lives were destroyed as a result of the largest scale UK miscarriage of justice; some were sent to prison, some died before their convictions were overturned, some lost their homes; the stress of what happened affected peoples health and some could not work for years. There was also at least one person who tragically committed suicide.

In this episode I talk to Mohamed Hami about what happened to his wife, Rubbina Shaheen who was a victim of this miscarriage of justice. Rubbina lost everything including her liberty and what happened to her has had a devastating affect on their lives. Her story is a tragic example of what could happen to any of us when we are wrongly accused of committing offences that did not ever happen.