DNA

National Training Conference on Investigating Miscarriages of Justice

January 29, 2018 // 2 Comments

This was a conference for training members of student pro bono projects who review cases of people claiming to be innocent of crimes for which they were convicted, and for [...]

Ignored DNA evidence locks up victim’s friend (Merrick Rogers, 1999)

August 15, 2017 // 0 Comments

"Kilmainham Gaol" by Wojtek Gurak. Found on flickr and used under Creative Commons.

“In the months leading up to the murder of Claire Streader there had been a number of attempted abductions and sexual assaults (including an attempted strangulation) on [...]

John Taft – the ‘the Beauty in the Bath’ murder (1999)

March 10, 2017 // 1 Comment

“In November 1999, John Taft, the managing director of a glass company, was convicted of murdering Cynthia Bolshaw in her Heswall home – 16 years after she was [...]

Michael Shirley – first exoneration on the basis of new DNA evidence (2003)

January 5, 2017 // 0 Comments

Michael Shirley had been an Able Seaman in the Royal Navy, and following a reference by the Criminal Cases Review Commission new DNA evidence had come to light which was [...]

Flawed from start to finish? The case of Billy Kenealy (1998)

December 20, 2016 // 0 Comments

Introduction Billy Kenealy was convicted in 1998 of 5 counts of rape and 1 count of indecent assault and sentenced to 5 life imprisonments and 5 years for indecent assault. [...]

The Scottish bank robber with a South African accent? (2007)

December 10, 2016 // 0 Comments

Billy Mills was found guilty of a gun raid on a Royal Bank of Scotland branch in Partick, Glasgow, in May 2007, and given a 9 year prison sentence. At the Court of Appeal in [...]

“Murder without a trace” – BBC Rough Justice frees Barri White and Keith Hyatt (2005)

November 3, 2016 // 1 Comment

A screenshot from the opening credits of the BBC Rough Justice programme "Murder Without a Trace"

“A man accused of murdering his girlfriend and dumping her body has been found not guilty at a retrial. Barri White, 29, of Epsom Grove, Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, had [...]

“The Prosecution’s case against DNA”: an article in The New York Times Magazine

September 6, 2016 // 0 Comments

Crime Scene by Alan Cleaver, found on flickr and used under Creative Commons

The massive popularity of media productions like Serial and Making a Murderer have rightly focussed attention on the plight of the wrongly convicted. Prior to podcasts and [...]

The Cardiff Three and the Lynette White murder case

April 30, 2016 // 1 Comment

Yusef Abdelahi, Tony Paris and Steven Miller Served four years for the murder of Lynette White before their convictions were overturned on appeal. Subsequently Jeffrey [...]

Compensation denied after DNA evidence ends 17-year miscarriage of justice (2014)

April 10, 2016 // 0 Comments

Victor Nealon was wrongly convicted of rape, then spent 17 years in jail because police and CCRC failed to carry out the simple DNA test that eventually proved him innocent - then denied compensation! [...]

The re-affirmation of criminal joint enterprise by the UKSC in Jogee

Joint enterprise increasingly permeates policing. The Code of Practice A which governs the police use of the power to stop and search individuals in public places, requires the police to have reasonable suspicion that a person is engaging in criminal activity before that person can be searched. In the 2015 edition, section 9A extends the meaning of ‘reasonable suspicion’ that those stopped and searched might be engaged in criminal activity to suspicion that their targets might be associated with a group another member of which might commit a crime. That provision opens the possibility of a major extension of stop and search usage (which can in itself lead to major public order disturbances), and the creation of apparent criminal association at the lowest and least visible level of police activity. [...]
Andrew Adams and the murder of Jack Royal: part 2
The question marks against Linda Razzell’s disappearance
What’s all the fuss about? Joint Enterprise and Jogee
Andrew Adams and the murder of Jack Royal: part 1