Wrongful conviction of Andrew Malkinson

And the worry I've had over the years is that the system is not foolproof by any means, particularly the higher courts are not beyond reproach on this.

And I think we are still having problems emanating from the CCRC, that's the Criminal Cases Review Commission, And we're still getting, Malkinson's an example, you know, miscarriages of justice.

Exactly.

Well, I'd like to ask you about that.

No, it hasn't.

No, because it's never the system that writes it.

It's the individual, like Malkinson, who has to wage a campaign.

I'll take an easier example, maybe.

On the podcast that I co-host, Double Jeopardy, we had the chair of the CCRC on the programme a couple of months ago, Dame Vera Baird.

Now, she's been appointed to basically... totally revamp the way the CCRC operates because as a result of a famous case of wrongful conviction involving a man called Andrew Malkinson, who was wrongly convicted of rape and attempted murder and spent 17 years in prison before another person was identified and convicted.

That case exposed extraordinary dysfunction in the CCRC.

And Dame Vera only took over last year.

Who knows when it exactly will be.

Tim Owen Casey is with us.

Actually, The Guardian has picked up on the case of Andrew Malkinson, which you've mentioned, in jail for 17 years and for a crime he didn't commit.

And it makes eye-opening reading when you look at the Wikipedia, even the Wikipedia account.

Very cold.

His name's Andrew Malkinson.

So these are the sort of...

I'm referring to when I applied to CCRC and they said to me, oh, it's refused...

So I know that he's still probably pushing a case against them.

Very cold.

His name's Andrew Malkinson.

So these are the sort of...

Uh, you know, I mean, I could go through them.

Obviously, there's Andrew Malkinson.

I'm sure people will know about that.

Served 17 years in prison for rape, was refused three appeals.

Once you've been there, you have to then go to what's called the Criminal Cases Review Commission, and you have to persuade them to send it back to the Court of Appeal.

And historically, that's been really difficult to do, as we found out with the Malkinson case, you may remember, a massive miscarriage of justice.

And there was a review into the CCRC and its management structure.

And as a consequence of that, they've got a new leadership and a new approach.