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The Annual Report and Accounts of the Criminal Cases Review Commission are published today, July 16th.

The Annual Report sets out the Commission’s assessment of its own performance in 2008/9 and makes public the accounts of the organisation which was set up to investigate alleged miscarriages of justice.

The high profile cases of Sean Hodgson and Ian Lawless, whose convictions were quashed in April and June respectively, were both referred to the Court of Appeal by the Commission during 2008/9. They were, however, just two of 39 referrals made to the appeal courts between 1st April 2008 and 31st March 2009.

Convictions giving rise to Commission referrals to the appeal courts this year included: seven for murder and one for manslaughter, three for drug-related convictions and two for sexual offences.

During the year the appeal courts dealt with the cases of 29 people whose convictions or sentences were referred by the Commission. Of those, 22 convictions were quashed or sentences varied while seven were upheld.

The Commission received 919 new applications in the year - 65 fewer than in the previous year. A total of 941 cases were closed in 2008/9 compared with 1,087 in 2007/8.

The figures for the year show that the Commission referred 4% of completed cases to the appeal courts. That is slightly higher than the long term average of 3.8% and significantly above the 2.5% referral rate in 2007/8.

Performance in terms of waiting times and the number of cases waiting has improved significantly in recent years. The report shows that in 2008/9 the Commission has for the most part maintained or improved its performance in these areas.

Richard Foster CBE took over as Chair of the Criminal Cases Review Commission in November 2008. In his foreword to the Annual Report and Accounts he says: “In recent years the Commission’s performance has improved dramatically. For example, in 2005 someone applying to us who was in custody, and whose case was complex, would have waited 20 months for a review to begin. Today that time is 20 weeks.

“Over that same period the backlog of cases awaiting allocation for review has fallen by half from 225 in March 2006 to 112 in March 2009.

“Everyone at the Commission deserves a share of the credit for those achievements.”

The Commission has this year, for the first time, chosen to reduce the use of resources and the cost of producing its Annual Report and Accounts by designing it principally for use in an electronic document format. For that reason, only 100 hard copies have been printed instead of the usual 1,500. A web resolution pdf of the report is available by e-mail or from the Commission’s website at www.ccrc.gov.uk

This press release was issued by Justin Hawkins, Head of Communication, Criminal Cases Review Commission

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The Annual Report and Accounts of the Criminal Cases Review Commission is presented to Parliament by the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State fro Justice in pursuance of paragraph 8(3) of Schedule 1 to the The Criminal Appeal Act 1995 and by the Comptroller and Auditor General in pursuance of paragraph 9(4) of Schedule 1 to that Act.

2. The Criminal Cases Review Commission is an independent body set up under the Criminal Appeal Act 1995. It is responsible for reviewing suspected and alleged miscarriages of criminal justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is based in Birmingham and is funded by the Ministry of Justice.

3. There are 11 Commissioners who bring to the Commission considerable experience from a wide variety of backgrounds. Commissioners are appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of the Prime Minister in accordance with the Office for the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ Code of Practice.

4. The Commission receives around 1,000 applications for reviews (convictions and/or sentences) each year. Our current rates of referral are around 4%, which means around one in 25 of all applications are referred to the appeal courts.

5. The Commission considers whether, as a result of new evidence or argument, there is a real possibility that the conviction would not be upheld were a reference to be made. New evidence or argument is argument or evidence which has not been raised during the trial or on appeal. Applicants should usually have appealed first. A case can be referred in the absence of new evidence or argument or an earlier appeal only if there are “exceptional circumstances”.

6. If a case is referred, it is then for the appeal court to decide whether the conviction is unsafe or the sentence unfair.

CCRC 18/09

Criminal Cases Review Commission
Press Release