Evidence

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Dither and Delay over Miscarriages of Justice Inquiry Findings

Reading Time: 7 minutes When the Westminster Commission on Miscarriages of Justice published the findings of its inquiry into the Criminal Cases Review Commission (‘In the Interests of Justice’) on 5 March 2021, it made over 40 recommendations. Whilst the vast majority of these were directed at the CCRC, 9 of the recommendations made...

Bias and Injustice – A David and Goliath Story

Reading Time: 4 minutes Samuel Alexander disappeared in 2009. His body was later found buried at his family home. Despite a lack of DNA, eyewitnesses, or murder weapon – and with no cause or date of death – his only son Mark was convicted of murder. A law graduate, Mark has been investigating his...

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10 things the Daily Mail got wrong about the trial of Mark Alexander

Reading Time: 5 minutes This article could just as easily have been called ’Ten ways the Daily Mail were misled by the crown prosecution service’, because in many ways the press isn’t to blame for the inaccuracies and calculated falsehoods recited in the prosecution’s opening speech – which they perhaps naturally, albeit uncritically, relied...

Mistake #1 – Post-mortem Confusion

Reading Time: 4 minutes “Gifted son gets life for butchering pushy father”. “He is accused of attempting to dismember him with a saw”. “He… tried to cut it up with an electric saw”. “A blade from a saw was found with the corpse… An electric saw was found in the house” – Excerpts from...

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Mistake #2 – Cause of Death

Reading Time: 2 minutes Mark “battered his father to death”. Police discovered Samuel’s “dismembered body and battered skull”. Samuel died “having suffered blows to the head”. – Excerpts from the Daily Mail et al We simply don’t know how my father died. The Home Office Pathologist was “unable to formally ascribe a cause of...

Mistake #4 – Date of Death

Reading Time: 4 minutes “Forensic studies of the body indicated that Samuel had probably been murdered in early September”. “Traces found in the garage suggested that the body had been stored there for 2 months before being buried”. – Excerpts from the Daily Mail et al The Home Office Pathologist was unable to determine...

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Mistake #5 – Exhibits

Reading Time: < 1 minute “The nozzle from a petrol can, heavy-duty black gloves, and a roll of black plastic sheeting” were found in the house. – Excerpts from the Daily Mail et al What sensible household doesn’t have assorted sundries like these? Of course, we are supposed to insinuate some sinister purpose behind this...