Paul Blackburn “Saved Living Expenses” Crowdfunder

We have been asked to share the following request by our client, Paul Blackburn.  Paul was wrongfully convicted and was not cleared until 27 years after the initial conviction.  

At the point of his release, Paul had spent more than 25 years wrongfully imprisoned and fell foul of the insidious practice of deducting what was called “saved living expenses” from his award.

It is now the government’s position that it is “common sense” that those who are fortunate enough to be entitled to compensation be treated more fairly and have scrapped this practice.

Paul, alongside other high-profile victims of miscarriages of justice are seeking – quite rightly – to challenge the government decision not to compensate for the award unfairly taken from them at the time.

The Ministry of Justice has advised Paul “[that there] are long standing principles which mean that changes such as this would not be applied retrospectively”.

MOJO’s position is simple, if it is manifestly unfair now, it was manifestly unfair then.  

Please read the message, copied below and If you can please donate to Paul’s crowd funder:

Dear Friends,

Please follow the link below to read the request for support from Paul Blackburn & Michael O’Brien concerning our quest to have so called living expenses that were charged to us for our time held unjustly in prison returned to us. 

We are the unfortunate few who fell between two ways of paying compensation to miscarriages of justice, a ruling that did not exist before us & was not carried out by choice after us then removed after the outcry at Andrew Malkinson’s case & his possibly being charged bed & board out of his compensation.

Mike has been refused legal aid & I have been told I am not eligible as I own my own house & would be expected to become homeless in order to pay for our case to go forward.

We would be grateful if you could contribute but if not please can you share our request.

Thank You

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/charging-bed-and-board-for-being-innocent

On 8 August 2023.  We wrote the following letter to the Lord Chancellor, seeking clarification on behalf of our vulnerable user group.  We have yet to receive a response.

Dear Lord Chancellor

I was delighted to note your recent announcement, following on the exoneration of Mr Andrew Malkinson, that the deduction of “saved living expenses” from compensation payments, made in respect of identified miscarriages of justice, is to cease. 

As a charity with over 20 years’ experience in supporting the victims of miscarriage of justice throughout the UK, we fully endorse your recognition of this significant policy change as a matter of common sense.  We agree that fairness should be “a core pillar of our justice system and it is not right that victims of devastating miscarriages of justice can have deductions made for saved living expenses.”

We currently represent a number of exonerees who have been in receipt of compensation, from the Government, for long years spent in prison for offences they did not commit.  A large part of our work is in supporting these individuals simply to cope with their lives in society, such has been the trauma suffered by them as a result of their experiences.  Each of these individuals was subjected to the deduction from their compensation of “saved living expenses”.

If it is a matter of common sense, as we agree that it is, that it is not right that victims of devastating miscarriages of justice can have deductions made for saved living expenses then, I respectfully suggest, this must equally be the case for those compensated before, as after, your recent announcement.

I assume, therefore, that it will be your intention to reverse, at this time, the decisions previously taken to make such deductions from the compensation rightly and legitimately paid to those exonerated prior to your recent announcement.   You have recognised the manifest unfairness in this arrangement, as do we. 

A perhaps unintended consequence of a failure to treat all compensated miscarriage of justice survivors equally will be the addition of a further level of unfairness to the experience of those on whom this iniquitous deduction was imposed.  You will agree, I hope, that this would be incompatible with the fairness that you have placed at the heart of your recent change in policy.

I would be grateful for clarification of your position.

Yours faithfully,

Euan McIlvride | Legal Officer

To read more about MOJO’s position on “saved living expenses” see HERE.

To read more about Paul’s case, see HERE.

Image credit: PA Media