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It
is alleged that the agenda of the CCRC is not to refer sexual cases back
to the Court of Appeal for fear of undermining the Justice System, where
Article 6 was violated in the Sexual Offences Act and Police Codes of
Conduct. Suspects are to be treated as guilty, with no need to look for
exonerating evidence at the scene of crimes. Especially important if the
police are themselves suspects for aiding and abetting planning crimes.
And their victim is an activist.
BBC 2 JULY 2025 - CHIEF EXEC OF MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE BODY QUITS AFTER CRITICISM
The head of the body responsible for investigating potential miscarriage of justices in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has resigned following months of criticism.
Karen Kneller stood down as chief executive of the embattled Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) after 12 years in the role.
There had been calls for her to resign when the CCRC admitted "failing" Andrew
Malkinson, who spent 17 years in prison for a crime he did not commit despite serious concerns the evidence against him was flawed.
In May, the justice select committee said the organisation had shown an "inability to learn from its own mistakes" on Ms Kneller's watch and called for her to go.
She has not commented since her departure was confirmed.
Dame Vera Baird, who was appointed chair of the CCRC last month and tasked with leading a review of it, said: "The CCRC has a vital role to play in the criminal justice system, but confidence in the organisation has been badly damaged. Confidence in our work must be restored."
Ms Kneller's resignation is the second highest profile departure at the review body this year.
In January, Helen Pitcher quit as CCRC chair after an independent panel found it had let Mr Malkinson down.
The 59-year-old was accused of raping a woman in Greater Manchester in 2003, and later jailed for life despite no DNA linking him to the crime. He was released in December 2020.
While Mr Malkinson was in jail, the CCRC twice rejected his submissions that he was innocent - the second of which was after Mrs Pitcher became chair.
His case was not referred to the Court of Appeal until January 2023, a full 20 years since being wrongly accused, and he was fully exonerated in the July of that year.
An independent review of his case found Mr Malkinson would have been released a decade earlier had the CCRC sought new evidence.
The crime he was accused of was later linked to another suspect via DNA testing, which the review found could have happened sooner if the CCRC had intervened.
As a result of Mr Malkinson's appeal, the CCRC is reviewing thousands of cases it had previously rejected as worthy of consideration in which DNA evidence could cast doubt on a conviction.
Matt Foot of legal charity Appeal, which represented Mr Malkinson when he successfully challenged his conviction in the courts, said Ms Kneller's resignation was "long overdue".
He continued: "Ultimately, a completely fresh senior leadership team - with a track record of challenging injustice - is required for the CCRC to become effective."
Amanda Pearce, casework operations director at the CCRC, has been appointed interim chief executive.
A
STAR - Chris Henley KC is part of all that is good within the British
criminal justice system.
According
to the Mountford Chambers website, Chris Henley KC is one of the busiest criminal silks in the country, highly regarded in all areas of serious crime, particularly murder, fraud and terrorism. His work ethic, total commitment, empathetic and tenacious approach to all his cases has marked him out from his earliest years in practice.
He has appeared in many leading cases over the years including the 21/7 terror attacks, the Damilola Taylor trial, the Daniel Morgan murder trial, the Jemma Beale trial, the ‘Babes in the Wood’ perjury trial and many cases prosecuted by the SFO. He acted for the Trustees of the Didsbury Mosque/Manchester Islamic Centre at the Manchester Arena Inquiry.
Chris is a highly effective, intelligent advocate, with a confident, assured manner. He gets to grips with the most complex cases very rapidly, distilling the key issues and offering strategic advice at an early stage, often pre-charge. He is approached to appear at inquests, professional disciplinary hearings, and to provide advice to individuals facing a very wide range of criminal allegations. The Criminal Cases Review Commission has engaged him to lead the review of the Andrew Malkinson case.
In 2018/2019 he was chosen by criminal barristers across the country to lead the Criminal Bar Association during one of the most challenging periods in the profession’s history, achieving the first fee rises for defence and prosecution advocates for 20 years, and securing the Government’s commitment to the Bellamy Review of Criminal Legal Aid (CLAR) which ultimately resulted in further increases to fees of 15%.
Who
is the criminal, the police who gained the fraudulent conviction, Helen
Pitcher for burying (not looking for) the evidence that could have freed
Mr Malkinson ten years earlier, or the Government for not scrapping a
system that is open to corruption and allegedly malicious practices? A simple apology for taking 10 years
from a life is far from sufficient by way of compensation. Henry the
Eighth would have loped off their heads.
A
barrister himself, Sir Keir Starmer will know how awful the CCRC Report
is, and the impact on the British justice (or lack of) system. His
Cabinet has a high proportion of legally qualified staff. We hope that
the Criminal Cases Review Commission is either scrapped or forced to
refer older cases that they have no reviewed properly, back to the Court
of Appeal.
LAW SOCIETY GAZZETTE
The chair of the Criminal Review Cases Commission has unreservedly apologised to Andrew Malkinson, who spent 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit, after a KC-led review found the commission failed him. This afternoon, lord chancellor Shabana Mahmood said she has begun the process to remove Helen Pitcher as the commission's chair.
Malkinson’s first two applications for the CCRC to use its statutory powers to refer his case back to the Court of Appeal were refused. The third application resulted in a referral to the Court of Appeal in January 2023. Six months later, his conviction was quashed.
The CCRC commissioned Chris Henley KC to review the organisation’s handling of the case. Henley’s 130-page report was published today.
On the first application, Henley said there was a ‘complete failure to get to grips with’ the potential significance of new DNA evidence. On the second application, which charity APPEAL submitted on behalf of Malkinson, Henley said it was disappointing that the CCRC did not set up a meeting to understand what APPEAL was proposing to do in relation to fresh DNA testing.
In a statement, Henley said: ‘Mr Malkinson spent many years in prison fighting this appalling miscarriage of justice. In 2009 he turned to the CCRC but they failed him. Lessons must be learned. It is almost impossible to believe that this is the only case that has not been handled properly. The CCRC must make every possible effort to identify other applications where mistakes might have been made, and immediately implement the recommendations made in my
report.’
CCRC chair Helen Pitcher said: ‘Mr Henley’s report makes sobering reading, and it is clear from his findings that the commission failed Mr Malkinson. For this, I am deeply sorry and wish to offer my sincere regret and an unreserved apology on behalf of the commission. I want to assure everyone of our commitment to learn from this. Mr Henley's report includes nine recommendations, and the commission has already begun work to implement them.'
Henley's findings have prompted calls for the CCRC to be overhauled.
James Burley, who led APPEAL's investigation into the Malkinson case, said: 'No one can doubt now that the CCRC is a broken safety net which sets the bar unreasonably high for innocent prisoners trying to clear their names. The CCRC must be completely overhauled.'
Hickman & Rose solicitor Toby Wilton, who is representing Malkinson in a public inquiry on his wrongful conviction, said: 'It is vital that the CCRC is held to account for its shocking failures in this case and completely overhauled.'
Mahmood said this afternoon: 'It was sobering to read Chris Henley KC’s findings. My thoughts are with both Andrew Malkinson and the victim of this horrific crime. Having studied Chris Henley’s report closely, it is my firm view that Helen Pitcher is unfit to fulfil her duties as chair of the CCRC. I have therefore begun the process to seek her removal from that position.'
According to the Guardian, Pitcher has rejected calls to resign. [She probably,
allegedly, needed the income to underpin her overseas business
aspirations, and did not want to rock the boat.]
How
Helen Pritchard thinks a simple apology is sufficient for causing Andrew
Malkinson to lose another ten years of his life. Ten years on top of
seven years, because Greater Manchester police decided to frame him up,
is an appalling indictment for the British justice system.
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