MOJO
  • Home
  • About
  • News
  • Contact
  • Comment
  • Testimonials
  • Donate
UKSC3
January 30 2019

UK Supreme Court Refuses Hallam/Nealon Appeal

Euan News

The UK Supreme Court has today decided, by a majority of 5-2, to refuse the appeals of Sam Hallam and Victor Nealon against the Government’s rejection of their claims to compensation for wrongful conviction and imprisonment.

Current legislation provides that compensation is only payable where it can be shown that exoneration, on the quashing of a wrongful conviction, resulted from the production of fresh evidence which proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the appellant did not commit the offence.  It’s not enough that you were wrongly convicted, and imprisoned, for a crime of which you are subsequently cleared.

Mr Hallam and Mr Nealon argued that this conflicts with, and offends against, the presumption of innocence, as that is (theoretically) guaranteed by Article 6 (2) of the European Convention on Human Rights.  

Their position, in simple terms, is that where an accused person has been found not guilty – whether at trial or at subsequent appeal – their presumption of innocence should subsist.  This is a position with which we entirely agree, as will be apparent to anyone who has read our previous articles on this subject.

The UK Supreme Court, in its judgement today, finds no such conflict.  In consequence, we can see that, in reality, your presumption of innocence is stripped from you at the point of accusation.   If you want it back, you have to prove it.   That doesn’t appear, to us, to be much of a presumption at all.

Paddy Hill has today made the following comment:

If the Police can take you from your home and family
depriving you of your life and liberty without consequence then no one
is safe. I have said it for many years. This can happen to anyone. Don’t
wait till it happens to one of your own before you asks questions about
what is done in your name to innocent people. Compensation does not give
you your life back but it is a recognition of the wrong done to you by
the state. For the state to renege on this shows our courts, and the
Lords responsible for this judgement have no interest in justice, or
basic common decency. Innocent men and women who are wrongfully
convicted get none of the support they require from the state. They want
to brush us under the carpet. We are the guilty secret at the heart of
the failure of the British Judicial system. It is no surprise that our
fight goes on for justice.

Systemic Bias Against Prisoners Who Maintain Innocence Innocent, Jailed and Uncompensated

Related Posts

20250222-_13I1004

Comment, News

‘People think you come out … and live happily ever after. If only.’ The reality of life after wrongful conviction

We at MOJO were delighted to collaborate recently – in a small way – in important research being undertaken by Dr Faye Skelton and her colleague Dr Mandy Winterton. Dr Skelton is Associate Professor in Forensic Cognition and Miscarriages of Justice at Edinburgh Napier University. More than that, she is a highly informed and respected […]

Lockerbie.jpg.gallery

Comment, News

The Bombing of Pan Am 103

The final episode of the BBC’s six-part series on the aftermath of the Lockerbie bombing aired last night. Across the six episodes of what was a production on a grand scale, what we saw was an approach to the Lockerbie tragedy from a perspective not much examined in the millions of words that have been […]

1Q9A0176-Edit

News

Calls for Eddie Gilfoyle case to be reviewed

From The Justice Gap, 19 May, we reproduce the following article concerning our friend and fellow-traveller, Eddie Gilfoyle. Regular visitors to this website will be familiar with the egregious miscarriage of justice suffered by Eddie, still un-corrected. The Justice Gap article adds new and depressing detail to Eddie’s story. There were renewed calls last week […]

Latest Tweets

→ Follow us

Archives

Search

  • Home
  • About
  • News
  • Contact
  • Comment
  • Testimonials
  • Privacy Notice
© Miscarriages of Justice Organisation (Scotland) 2025 - Company No SC239555 - Registered Charity No SC033820 The work of MOJO is financially supported by the Scottish Government and by the Roddick Foundation