Convicted of a murder in London 35 years ago, the Criminal Cases Review Commission has referred John Heibner's case for a second appeal. Heibner was in prison for over 25 years.. "Having considered a rage of issues, including the admissibility and treatment of confession evidence at trial, and new evidence relating to a witness at trial, the commission is referring the conviction to the court of appeal because it considers that there is a real possibility that the court may not uphold the conviction," said a spokesperson for the CCRC, quoted in the Guardian. His lawyer, Rhona Friedman, described the case as "an extraordinarily murky episode in our criminal justice system." Heibner was known to police as an armed robber and the time of the murder was facing a 15-year sentence for an armed robbery to which he had admitted. The main evidence against him was a confession which Heibner contested at the trial. Lord Ramsbotham, the former chief inspector of prisons, has made a number of calls for his case to be referred back. The Rev Nick Stacey, former director of social services for Kent, who met Heibner when he was in Maidstone prison, became convinced of his innocence and has written to successive home secretaries on his behalf. Read more in |
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Errol Heibner's application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission was rejected, but now the CCRC has received 'confidential information' that has caused it to reconsider its decision... Read more in |
article by Duncan Campbell
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