Michael O'Brien - Fight for Justice

Explicit content warning

10/24/21 • 27 min

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.

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

Previous Episode

Jimmy Boyle - Much Madness is Presumption of Guilt

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.

Next Episode

Cardiff University Innocence Project

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The Cardiff University Innocence Project was founded in 2006. Over 90 Cardiff University students and other professionals try to help wrongly convicted people overturn their convictions. It is the only university innocence project in the country to have successfully helped someone overturn their conviction; Dwaine George - whereby the students, staff and experts worked for over nine years to help overturn his wrongful conviction for murder; and Gareth Jones - after a six year investigation his conviction for a serious sexual offence was overturned.

In this episode, the project leaders Dr Dennis Eady and Dr Holly Greenwood talk about the work that the project does, the success stories, how to manage the students expectations and the hurdles they face in helping a victim of a miscarriage of justice.