A high-profile legal report examining the wrongful conviction of a man for rape has been criticized for failing to address broader concerns about the justice system’s handling of similar cases. The report, published just before an inquiry into a controversial hospital nurse’s convictions, argues that the legal establishment—including senior judges—struggles to acknowledge systemic flaws that can lead to miscarriages of justice. Its author warns of a persistent reluctance within the courts to accept that innocent defendants may sometimes be wrongfully convicted. The omission of these issues in the report has raised questions about whether key lessons from the case have been overlooked.
Decision not to pause proceedings means £18m report does not engage with concerns over former nurse’s convictionJust two months before Lady Justice Kathryn Thirlwall opened her inquiry into events at the Countess of Chester hospital and the crimes of Lucy Letby, a report by Chris Henley KC was published into the “atrocious” wrongful conviction of Andrew Malkinson for rape.Henley prefaced that report with a plea for the legal establishment to recognise that the criminal courts produce miscarriages of justice. Right up to top judges in the court of appeal, Henley wrote, the system has “a deep-seated … cultural reluctance” to accept it “will on occasion make mistakes” and that “entirely innocent defendants will sometimes be convicted”. Continue reading...
