The British justice system has been dealt another body blow by the decision of the Court of Appeal in London yesterday to release Jim Robinson, Michael Hickey and his cousin Vincent, on unconditional bail. They had spent 18 years in jail for the murder of Carl Bridgewater, a newspaper boy. It is now revealed that their conviction was based on a piece of lying deception perpetrated by the prosecuting West Midlands police. This was confirmed by the latest high technology methods available to evaluate written documents in such cases.
The scenes outside the London court were reminiscent of those after the release of the Guildford Four in 1989, the Birmingham Six in 1991 and several other sets of falsely convicted prisoners since then. This case too, involved Irish people who were picked among the usual or convenient lower working class suspects by a police force under pressure to get rapid convictions. They were found guilty by what one of the defending counsels, Mr Michael Mansfield QC, described aptly as a "vein of corruption and dishonesty" running through the police force in question.
He and other legal and rights activists, together with the extraordinary campaign by dedicated relatives and friends, deserve the highest praise for their determination and persistence in fighting this case against an arrogant, closed and complacent legal and political establishment. Once again, justice is seen to be wrenched, not delivered from it, in this case. Not for the first time in the history of the British legal system, the reputation for fair play and honest judgement is seen to come from campaigns of protest which culminate in an eventual reopening of these cases. Irish people have a particular debt of gratitude to pay for the many activists involved. They have kept alive a tradition of solidarity and common cause between Irish and British people who have suffered from such injustices, without which it would, on many occasions, have been so easy to succumb to racist stereotypes.
What is most worrying in this pattern of false convictions is the apparent solidarity of the system of criminal justice, from police prosecution to the highest level of judicial review, in the face of countervailing evidence. The basic facts of the Bridgewater case were available virtually from the earliest stages of the case. What was missing was independent confirmation of them such as has only now been provided by the electronic image enhancement techniques used on this occasion. The inquiry that should follow the rehearsing of this ease must go back fully on this sorry record. It must address properly how police evidence is collected and how it can be concealed from the defence in order to enhance the prospects of getting a conviction. The lessons drawn will have implications for other jurisdictions based on common law norms, including those in this State.
This case will remind many people of the current campaign to reopen the inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday in Derry 25 years ago, following the discovery of new evidence. The British authorities should pay the most careful attention to it in the light of this latest example of flawed justice.