Rethinking Miscarriages of Justice
Beyond the Tip of the Iceberg

Dr Michael Naughton

Lecturer in Sociology and Law, University of Bristol and Founder of the University of Bristol Innocence Project and the Innocence Network UK

New paperback edition, with a new Foreword by Jonathan Simon, University of California, Berkeley, US

Available from Amazon £18.04

The Criminal Cases Review Commission
Hope for the Innocent?

Edited by Michael Naughton
includes a chapter by INNOCENT's Dr Andrew Green

Review in by Duncan Campbell, 16 January 2010

'Michael Naughton's timely and authoritative book comprehensively destroys the myth that the central mission of the CCRC is to correct wrongful convictions of the innocent.' Professor Mike McConville, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
'This is a timely and provocative volume, which draws attention to the limitations of Criminal Cases Review Commission and similar institutions. .. It ought to act as a useful antidote to any sense of complacency on the part of those responsible for rectifying such miscarriages.' - Professor Peter Duff, former member of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission

Now available as a paperback with a new foreword by Ronald Huff, University of California, Irvine, US
from Amazon for £18.04

5.30 am Without Warning

by Jakki Sidney

The Davidsons were ordinary people, with a happy marriage and a daughter at dance school. But when Claire’s innocent accountant husband Matt got inadvertently caught up with gangland criminals in the late 90s it changed their lives forever. In their desperation to pin a conviction on the criminals the police and the Crown Prosecution Service began a persecution of Matt in a case that was to drag on for years. Uncovering corruption, confused process, arrogance and blatant incompetence within the justice system, Claire never doubted her husband and Matt never wavered from asserting his innocence. But can innocent people really take on the legal establishment and win? Claire’s passionately told tale reminds us, when we know we’re in the right, to fight.

Jakki has attended meetings of INNOCENT and has some complimentary things to say about our organisation.

Available from Amazon or (cheaper) from W H Smith
Published by Book Guild

The Price of Innocence

by Shirley McKie, Iain McKie and Michael Russell

Her crime - to speak the truth and refuse to accept the mis-identification of her fingerprint, allegedly found at a murder scene she should not have entered. During those 9 years, her case became an international cause celebre during which she gained the support of the world fingerprint experts community and much of the world's press whilst at home being persecuted by government ministers, smeared by senior police officers and having her integrity traduced by Scottish forensic experts and Scottish politicians. Now, for the first time the true and authorized story of the Shirley McKie case is told by her father Iain - her strongest champion - and former MSP Michael Russell who has worked alongside the McKie family for over 7 years.
14 December 2011: publication of the report of the Scottish Government inquiry into this case and how the fingerprint identification system should be changed.

Andrew Green comments: Through the single case of the misindentification of a fingerprint at a crime scene, the whole system of fingerprint identification as practiced on behalf of police investigations and prosecutions in the UK is brought into question. Far from being scientific and reliable, the system is open to error, and, worse still, when error is exposed, police experts, police officers, prosecutors, the judiciary, minister and other politicians close ranks and refuse to acknowledge even the possibility of error - at appalling personal cost to the victims of the error and to the public purse.
This scandalous situation has been brought to light through the untiring and heroic work of the victim, Shirley McKie and her father, Iain McKie, who could never bring themselves to follow the easy solution of pretending that nothing wrong had ever happened.
This book is sometimes hard going, not because it is badly written, but because it reflects the tedious and gratuitous processes through which state officials and politicians have attempted to prevent the exposure of defective institutions for which they are responsible. But it should be read by everyone in the UK, because none of us can ever predict when a fingerprint found at a crime scene might be attributed to one of us, with the result that a person's life might be transformed into a Kafaesque nightmare.
Available from Amazon for next to nothing - so no excuse for not buying it!

Claims of Innocence

by Michael Naughton
with Gabe Tan

Claims of Innocence describes how innocent people can be wrongly convicted, how the criminal appeals system can fail and even obstruct the overturning of convictions given to the innocent.

It details how alleged wrongful convictions may be investigated and challenged, providing a six-stage method for such a task.

Dr Andrew Green, Co-Founder of INNOCENT and United Against Injustice (UAI), said: “We, who have for many years tried to help innocent people in prison and their families to challenge the wrongful convictions of which they are all victims, have long felt a desperate need for a concise explanation of the appeals process and how prosecution cases might be effectively challenged. I and colleagues in innocent prisoner support and campaigning organisations welcome the publication of this book, which will be of great assistance to us and to prisoners and their families.

It is available free of charge to anyone who needs it. Go to http://www.bris.ac.uk/news/2010/7349.html and download the order form (link at bottom of page).

Now available free online (PDF format) - click here

Also obtainable free at meetings of INNOCENT and other support organisations.

A Fair Cop

by Michael Bunting

Michael Bunting was enjoying a successful career as a West Yorkshire uniformed police officer when he tackled a drunk, John Patterson, who violently assaulted him. Patterson was convicted and given a community service order, but Bunting was in turn convicted of assault on Patterson on the evidence of a fellow officer, and sent, briefly, to prison.
Michael Bunting's other claim to fame occurred before his own conviction. He had arrested Leeds footballer Carlton Palmer for disorderly conduct and indecent assault, of which Palmer was subsequently convicted.
Cynical readers of this interesting and readable book will wonder whether these two significant events in ex-PC Bunting's career could possibly be connected.
Recommended reading.

available from Amazon at £4.96

Jeremy Bamber: Evil, Almost Beyond Belief?

by S. C. Lomax
The History Press

In October 1986 Jeremy Bamber was convicted of the murders of five members of his family at their home in Essex. It was alleged he had killed his relatives before staging the scene so that it appeared his sister, Sheila Caffell, had committed four acts of murder before turning the murder weapon, an Anschutz semi-automatic rifle, on herself. The trial judge described Bamber, during sentencing, as being warped, callous and evil, almost beyond belief. Bamber, however, remains adamant he is the victim of a miscarriage of justice. Jeremy Bamber: Evil, Almost Beyond Belief? examines, in great detail, the case of Jeremy Bamber. For the first time all of the relevant information, from both the defence and prosecution cases, is explained. New evidence, only recently obtained, is discussed. Some of the information contained in the book will feature in the defence case when Bamber next appeals against his conviction. It has not previously been made public.

Review by Andrew Green

hardback £18.99
available from Amazon for £13.29

Power Resistance Knowledge
the epistemology of policing

Andrew Green

Andrew Green is one of the founders of INNOCENT. This book analyses the production of knowledge that can become evidence in serious criminal cases, drawing on the records of miscarriage of justice cases he has investigated. It is not a book about miscarriage of justice, but it will be found useful by anyone seeking to understand how miscarriages of justice come about.

paperback £10.90
available from Amazon for £9.81
or from the publisher Midwinter & Oliphant, post free

The Death of Justice: Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Michael O'Brien

Michael O'Brien was imprisoned for eleven years for a crime he didn't commit - the Cardiff Newsagent Murder. In this book he reveals all about the police incompetence and scapegoating which landed him as an innocent man in prison. It also tells of his tooth-and-nail fight through the highest courts, not only to get himself free, but to gain the highest compensation payout of its kind. While in prison, Michael lost not only his freedom but everything he'd ever had, including his wife, his child, and even his health. It has taken him years to rebuild his life. But he did gain something from his time inside; a self-taught knowledge of Law, and the burning desire to help others fight for justice.

paperback £9.95
available from Amazon for £5.56
See Cardiff Newsagent Three page