West Midlands Serious Crime Squad

John Cummiskey – another victim of the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad

September 25, 2017 // 1 Comment

A man who served eight years of a 15-year prison sentence for armed robbery has had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal in London. John Joseph Cummiskey, 49, from [...]

The Birmingham Six – a collection of articles and videos

January 26, 2016 // 0 Comments

One of the most famous miscarriage of justice cases of all time and another watershed moment for the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad: While the men were in the custody of [...]

DPP under fire for not prosecuting police who ‘tortured’ suspects (1997)

January 11, 2016 // 0 Comments

“… the third occasion within a week in which the courts have questioned the way the DPP has handled allegations of police violence.” The Director of Public [...]

Altered statement leads to 23rd West Midlands Serious Crime Squad conviction to be quashed (1995)

January 9, 2016 // 0 Comments

A former prisoner who fought a 10-year campaign to clear his name after being wrongly convicted on evidence of members of the disbanded West Midlands police serious crime [...]

Man ‘fitted up’ by West Midlands Serious Crime Squad gets £200,000 (1998)

January 9, 2016 // 0 Comments

An innocent man who spent “five hellish years” in jail after being beaten by a detective and made to sign a confession to robbery was awarded £200,000 [...]

“Discrediting” of West Midlands Serious Crime Squad leads to freedom from 20 year sentence (2002)

January 9, 2016 // 0 Comments

A man jailed for 20 years after a security guard was shot dead during an armed raid has won the battle to clear his name. The Appeal Court quashed Patrick Irvine’s [...]

‘Unreliable confession’ key to overturned conviction (1994)

January 9, 2016 // 0 Comments

(Retrieved from The Independent, 28th January 1994) A MAN who spent 10 years in prison for the murder of an elderly woman walked free yesterday after the Court of Appeal [...]

West Midlands Serious Crime Squad detective not ‘a witness of truth’ (2003)

January 9, 2016 // 0 Comments

(Retrieved from BBC News, 3rd October 2003) A man jailed for seven years for drugs offences has had his convictions overturned because of doubts about police evidence against [...]

Framed pair win the fight to clear their names (2003)

January 8, 2016 // 0 Comments

Tainted evidence from supergrass leads to overturned conviction of another West Midlands Serious Crime Squad Case Two men sentenced to a total of 24 years following [...]

Trevor Campbell framed by West Midlands Serious Crime Squad (1985)

January 8, 2016 // 0 Comments

14 years in jail after being threatened into confessing to a crime he didn’t do A man who served 14 years in jail after being convicted of the murder of an elderly [...]

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. [...]
What’s all the fuss about? Joint Enterprise and Jogee
“Sugar Paper Theories” and the Reykjavik Confessions
Green light for police malpractice
The Minefield of Memory