Reading Time: 7minutesWhen 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...
by admin · Published December 7, 2020
· Last modified January 6, 2021
Reading Time: 5minutesDeconstructing a wrongful conviction is a painstaking process. Often, once all the tripwires that floored the original jury have been carefully exposed, a case will require extensive investigative efforts to reveal previously unseen evidence that can exonerate the individual, or at least raise serious doubts about the veracity of the...
by admin · Published November 30, 2020
· Last modified December 1, 2020
Reading Time: 5minutesOne of the many problems plaguing the Criminal Cases Review Commission – the body set up to review potential miscarriages of justice in England and Wales – is the sheer length of time that it takes them to consider any given application. To help address the issue, the House of...
by admin · Published November 7, 2020
· Last modified May 11, 2022
Reading Time: 8minutesProving your innocence in most cases requires finding some ‘fresh evidence’ that wasn’t available at your original trial, a challenge that stops many a wrongly convicted person in their tracks. Unless you are one of the lucky few able to acquire pro bono support, conducting a private investigation from behind...
by admin · Published October 31, 2020
· Last modified December 1, 2020
Reading Time: 5minutesMost people wrongly convicted of a crime are quick to lodge an appeal within the allotted 28-day time limit. Unless there was something seriously wrong with the actual trial process however, your only hope of an acquittal is to find some fresh evidence that wasn’t available just a week or...
by admin · Published October 13, 2020
· Last modified November 6, 2020
Reading Time: 4minutesIn 2019, a Westminster Commission made up of a growing number of MPs concerned by the rising tide of wrongful convictions across England and Wales was formed across party political lines in search of solutions. Establishing an All-Party Parliamentary Group on Miscarriages of Justice (APPGMJ), they launched a public inquiry...
I was very impressed with Mark’s academic abilities, and suggested that he might consider working for me at IBM during his ‘gap year’ after his A-Levels. He leapt at the opportunity and joined the ‘Futures’ gap-year student employment programme of IBM, working for me [2007].
“I recall feeling that Mark had a strong sense of duty to his father. It was clear to me that he cared deeply for him, and devoted a lot of time to looking after his father during his illness, and in particular after his time in hospital [2008].
I have always found Mark to be a very pleasant person, sociable, quick to make new friends and participate actively in social situations. He is intelligent and thoughtful, and has a great sense of humour. He was always careful to ensure he wasn’t taking up too much of my time, recognising that I was busy and being sensitive to that.
He was highly regarded at IBM – clearly a future star that we should nurture, and always extremely popular with friends. He was very popular with the team at Wimbledon and made a good impression. He went to work there for several months in support of the IT systems for the Tennis. Mark is very creative – a great talent that was used to great effect in the work he did.
Mark was highly entrepreneurial – during his law studies he was involved in a number of ventures in emerging internet technologies such as Virtual Worlds and Web 2.0 projects [2009]. These were around providing services to companies, like virtual business meetings. Certainly a visionary! He ran a small company that provided these software services to other companies. He mentioned a few times during his course that he had to very carefully balance his university work with his outside work.
The best words I can use to describe what I thought when I heard Mark had been arrested were: complete disbelief. From everything I know of Mark, the way he cares for people, the way he interacts with people, the efforts he went to in looking after his father during illness, his aspirations for the future, the fact he had everything to live for; there’s no way, to my mind, that he could possibly have murdered his father and disposed of the body.”
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