MARCH 2023 THE VOICE
|
15
News Feature
SENTENCE CHALLENGED
VICTIM: On July 22, 1990, shopkeeper Baldev Singh Hoondle, above, was shot and killed during a robbery at the family off-licence in Lower Clapton Road in Hackney, east London
This ain’t the first time he’s shot someone.” However, there is hope on the horizon for Mr Campbell after the CCRC, the miscarriage watchdog, announced in November that it had re-examined the case and decided to send it back to the Court of Appeal. It said the “full extent of his vulnerabilities was not properly understood”, meaning Mr Campbell’s admission may not have constituted reliable evidence, and has mooted the “real possibility that the Court of Appeal will conclude that Mr Campbell’s admissions are unreliable and that ultimately his convictions are
unsafe.” Following a BBC Rough Justice programme called “If the Cap Fits”, which examined Mr Campbell’s case, the CCRC rejected a previous appeal in 2005. “We were left with not much else that we could do, except try and think of other alternatives and options,” Mr Maddocks said. In a desperate bid, he spent a year tracking down Mr Samuels.
DEBATE
In 2019, Mr Maddocks met the then MP for Ipswich, Sandy Martin, who agreed to do a Westminster Hall debate around the CCRC and miscarriages of justice. Following this, Mr Martin wrote to CCRC boss Helen
Pitcher to ask if she would be prepared to look at the case again. She agreed in 2020 to do so, which eventually led to the CCRC announcement last November it would refer the case. Mr Martin told The Voice: “I’m glad that one of the main things they were saying at the All-Party Parliamentary Group was that the CCRC was not doing its job correctly. Hard physical evidence should always trump any confession, or any hearsay, or any statements of any sort. If you’ve got ten people who swear blind that it was a Black person who committed the crime but there is actual physical evidence that it wasn’t a Black person who com-
mitted the crime, then the hard physical evidence has got to take precedence. “Because people can be mistaken, people can be wrong about things, and confessions can be extracted from people without them necessarily being accurate. Eleven years is a helluva long time, a helluva long time. It’s deeply, deeply unfair.” Teresa MacKay, a long-term supporter of Mr Campbell, said: “It is all truly shocking. He (Oliver) was brought up in care most of his life though he did have a foster mother with whom he keeps in touch. The blow [to his head he received as a child] has left him with the mind of a nine-year-old and as a result ex-
Government block miscarriage payments THE Government has stopped issuing compensation for miscarriages of justice cases by deciding that people had to prove beyond all reasonable doubt they did not do the crime before receiving any compensation. Oliver Campbell’s lawyer Glyn Maddocks, KC, pictured, said: “It is absolutely outrageous that they should do that with many people realising it. Oliver will not receive any compensation. There is no compensation anymore for miscarriages of justice victims.” “Unless you have some black and white DNA evidence saying you could not possibly have done it, you can’t prove beyond tremely vulnerable.”
APPEAL
Mr Campbell has worked in a community cafe near Ipswich for over ten years. Asked if his experience held him back from progressing in life, he said: “I would have not been in this country, I would have been somewhere else. I would have had a long-term relationship and kids by now.” In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said the case was “fully investigated at the time with a range of evidence brought before a jury who convicted the defendant in 1991”. It declined to comment further on the case because of
reasonable doubt that you did not do it.” “The Court of Appeal just decides if his conviction is unsafe, that’s all they decide. So, Oliver will not get any compensation which is a difficult one for him to accept.” the appeal. A Met spokesperson added: “Under the leadership of Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, everyone in the Met is clear that we must root out those who corrupt the integrity of our organisation. This will be uncomfortable and sometimes painful as we turn over the stones and uncover those who have let us down. “Most of our people are great people, but we have been too weak in identifying the minority who do not uphold high standards. We are giving officers clear direction of what is expected of them.” Visit: www.crowdjustice.com/case/ justice4ollie/
