John Kamara

With a complete lack of shame, and a corresponding lack of apology, we have stolen from the Facebook page of our friends at United Against Injustice the following interesting article about our old friend, John Kamara.

That John is a survivor of miscarriage of justice is down to his endless determination and integrity. His story needs to be told.

We are often aghast at the terrible miscarriages of justice we see in American Netflix series or documentaries, but the details of this case are as equally shocking as anything that may occur in the USA.

John Kamara is a man of immense courage, a testament to the strength, persistence and determination that proved his innocence.

John Kamara spent 19 years of wrongful imprisonment for murder because the police deliberately failed to disclose over 200 witness statements which proved his innocence.

John, from Toxteth, Liverpool, was convicted in 1981 with Raymond Gilbert of the murder of John Suffield, who was stabbed during a bungled robbery. Gilbert falsely and maliciously told the police that John had been involved in the murder.

During the trial Gilbert changed his plea to guilty. Even though John Kamara continued to profess his innocence he was found guilty. But evidence emerged that another man confessed to police in 1987. Doubts were also cast on the fairness of Mr Kamara’s identity parade.

Convicted as a 24-year-old, his prison file shows he wrote more than 300,000 letters to MPs, campaigners and even the pope, fighting for his freedom with only the characters from Radio 4 dramas and the Archers on the radio in his cell for company.

Two investigations into the case found nothing that might overturn the conviction, yet the evidence of 200 undisclosed statements was there all the time. One investigation was a direct complaint against the senior investigating officer in the case, Detective Chief Inspector Francis Youell. The man put in charge of that investigation was Detective Chief Inspector Francis Youell.

It was the discovery by the CCRC of over 200 previously withheld witness statements that set Kamara’s release on course.

Scheduled to last a week, the judges took only three days to quash the conviction. John was handed £46 and a travel pass that ran out at 8pm, he re-joined the world with only the clothes on his back and denied the support automatically given to people re-joining society. In those first months, he faced the prospect of life on the streets. With no national insurance number, he could not access benefits and so had neither a home nor money.

Further links:

http://netk.net.au/UK/Kamara.asp

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/mar/31/john-kamara-justice-on-trial

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/video/2009/may/05/miscarriages-of-justice

https://www.insidejustice.co.uk/tv/tv-archive-the-case-of-john-kamara/8