Misjustice: How British Law is Failing Women

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I think, too, about reading and watching the coverage not so long ago about the great athlete Oscar Pistorius, who shot his girlfriend in a fit of rage, or the footballer Ched Evans, who was acquitted on a retrial of rape, having been given the heads-up by a friend that there was a young woman available for sex who just happened to be very drunk, or the politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who walked away from a sexual assault allegation on an immigrant hotel worker claiming it was consensual, only to be later exposed as a man with an unquenchable appetite for aggressive sex with strangers. All these men were able to rally huge public support. I think of John Warboys, the taxi driver who was responsible for the assault of legions of women but was considered suitable for release by the Parole Board after nine years. Then there is Donald Trump, who boasted on tape that he liked to ‘grab women by the pussy’ and admitted he could do so without any consequences because of his power and fame; who also said that he thought women who had abortions deserved ‘some form of punishment’. He then went on to become president of the United States, supported by swathes of men but also a large number of women who think he speaks for them. I read and watch female journalists, paid assassins, turn on women who speak out about the ways in which lecherous men grope them, or I hear senior women at the Bar say that young women who complain of roaming hands should not consider a career in law if they cannot deal with it, and then I wonder how long it will take before there is equality. For millennia women have been made to feel shame. They have been told that what happens to them is their fault and it is they who are blamed for their failures, their shortcomings, their conduct. That is the power of patriarchy. Male dominance is maintained by this stuff. Women are made to feel soiled. They absorb feelings of guilt. The voice in their heads is mouthing cultural norms created by men and sold to women. ‘It must have been something about me that made him do that to me.’ Oscar Slater was wrongfully convicted in 1909 of the murder of Marion Gilchrist on the flimsiest evidence, and sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and he served at hard labour until his conviction was quashed in 1928. [132] Twenty-five years have passed since Kennedy published Eve Was Framed, the groundbreaking precursor to her latest work. And while there has been some change – much of it initiated by Kennedy herself – progress has been halting and deep-seated reform is still urgently needed. “The smell of the gentlemen’s club permeates every crevice of the Inns of Court,” writes Kennedy. And it stinks. Brown, 22, from Dudley, was diagnosed with autism at 16 and has learning disabilities and other mental health difficulties. He was convicted in 2018 of robbery, attempted robbery and perverting the course of justice, with joint enterprise forming part of the prosecution’s case. Although he moved from Jamaica to England with his family aged four, the government was preparing to deport him to Jamaica last year, after he had served three years in prison. The Home Office finally decided not to do so last month after an outcry and campaign by his family and supporters. His lawyers are still working to appeal against his conviction. Jordan Cunliffe Diosa-Villa, Rachel (2014). "Inequity in Post-exoneration Remedies for Wrongful Conviction" (PDF). University of New South Wales Law Journal. 37 (1): 349–350.

Eastman was found guilty after a trial by jury in 1995. After 19 years in gaol a judicial inquiry determined that Eastman was the victim of a miscarriage of justice; his conviction was quashed on August 22, 2014, and he was released. He was tried a second time and, on November 22, 2018, found not guilty. Enzo Tortora, a popular anchorman on national RAI television, was arrested in 1983 and held in jail for months on trumped-up charges by several pentiti of the Camorra and other people already known for perjury. It was soon noted that this was most likely a mis-identification due to confusion with a man having the same surname (meaning "turtledove"), but the pentiti kept on accusing Tortora of the gravest offenses related to drug dealing. He was sentenced to ten years in jail in his first trial held in 1985. Nineteen-year-old Button and his girlfriend Rosemary Anderson were celebrating his birthday at his parents' house. After an argument, Anderson decided to walk home. Button followed her in his car but she refused to get in and continued walking. Button stopped to smoke a cigarette before driving on. He found her lying injured and unconscious on the side of the road. She died later at the hospital. [7] :p 42 Button had a bad stutter and police interpreted this as being nervous due to the questions he was being asked. Button was refused access to his parents or a lawyer and was hit once by an interviewing police officer, [7] :p 49 before finally confessing to killing Anderson after 22 hours of interrogation. Damage to Button's car was also introduced at trial. He was charged with wilful murder and served five years in prison.

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Sahaaleh was convicted for "crimes against chastity" for being involved in a sexual relationship with a 51-year-old married man named Ali Darabi. Sahaaleh claimed she was raped by Darabi multiple times over the course of 3 years and then tortured into confessing. During her trial, she removed her hijab, an act seen as severe contempt of court, and argued that Darabi should be punished, not her. The judge sentenced her to death. Darabi was sentenced to 95 lashes. [75] Now it was as though people had been waiting for permission to talk about their experiences and a flood of historic abuse and discrimination was laid bare. I thought then that maybe we were turning a corner. Post was a carer for an 89-year-old woman who was strangled and robbed. She "seemed nervous" when questioned and under forceful police questioning she confessed although later retracted. Post's alibi was not verified, another nearby similar crime that Post could not have done was ignored and there was no corroborating evidence. She was released from prison in 1990. The Dutch Appeal Court acquitted Post in 2010 and the Dutch Prosecutor admitted he was wrong. [98] Sugaya was found guilty based on flawed DNA testing and a confession that he professes was beaten out of him by detective in charge of the case Fumio Hashimoto. Investigation by reporter Kiyoshi Shimizu into the North Kanto Serial Young Girl Kidnapping and Murder Case resulted in the Ashikaga case being found to be part of it, with Sugaya being innocent. It was later found that the prosecution had also suppressed evidence regarding the true culprit, including eyewitness accounts, because they did not match their version of events with Sugaya as the culprit.

Helena Kennedy has written a chilling exposé of how the law has historically failed women. Taking no prisoners, Kennedy outlines the damage we must undo, and the changes we must make. Eve was Shamed is a necessary book for the #MeToo era" (Amanda Foreman)

Nie Shubin was convicted after the police had obtained a confession from him with a week of "skillful interrogation, including psychological warfare" and executed in 1995 for the rape and murder of Kang Juhua, a woman in her thirties. In 2005, Wang Shujin admitted to the police that he had committed the murder and described murder scene details only known to the police. [62] [63] Michael Shirley, a Royal Navy seaman, was convicted of the rape and murder of a 24-year-old barmaid in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in 1986. After completing the recommended minimum 15 years of his life sentence he maintained his innocence even though this meant he would not be released on parole. In 2002 the case was referred by the Criminal Cases Review Commission to the Court of Appeal, where the conviction was quashed on the basis of fresh DNA evidence. [165] Linna was convicted on the key evidence of "Nils" who claimed he had he had heard Linna planning the robbery. Later interviews with Nils cast doubt on his veracity and Linna's conviction was overturned. [121] Conviction quashed after an unknown person's DNA was found on the woman's clothes. Nealon was denied compensation.

Sam Hallam was wrongly jailed for life in 2005 for the murder of Essayas Kassahun. He was released in May 2012 after prosecutors told three senior judges that they would not oppose his appeal. [190]Alfred Dreyfus was wrongly convicted for treason in 1894. After being imprisoned on Devil's Island, he was proven innocent with the assistance of Émile Zola and definitively rehabilitated only in 1906. See the Dreyfus affair. Wrongfully convicted on the basis of mistaken eyewitness testimony, unreliable methods of conviction and a rush to convict by the police. His case led to the creation of the English Court of Criminal Appeal.

Davey, Melissa (April 7, 2020). "George Pell: Australian cardinal to be released from jail after high court quashes child sex abuse conviction". The Guardian . Retrieved April 7, 2020. Browing was convicted of the murder of pregnant Marie Wilks, a 22-year-old woman who had broken down on the side of the M50 motorway. Browning was arrested after his friends reported that he matched the photofit of the suspect, and it was discovered that on the day Browning had had a row with his pregnant wife and stormed off telling her he was driving to Scotland. He would have used the M50 to drive in that direction. Browning owned a silver Renault 25 car similar to one seen at the scene, and a 20-foot tyre mark near the embankment where the body was found was linked to a bald tyre on Browning's car that may have made that type of mark. He was released on appeal in 1994 after it was found that the police had failed to disclose a video of a witness under hypnosis. Reacting, the head of West Mercia Police said: "All I would say is that I was completely satisfied with the investigation". Reinvestigations have found no other evidence or suspect and Browning died aged 63 in 2018. His death was not considered suspicious. [169] [170] [171] Individuals detained in an IRC have the right to access an ‘advice surgery’ that guarantees access to 30 minutes of legal advice, regardless of whether they meet the requirements for financial eligibility to receive legal services, whereas detainees held in prison only qualify to receive civil legal services if they meet both the financial resources criteria.

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Convictions ruled unsafe after an appeal to the European Court of Justice. A large number of items stolen in the robberies had been found in the possession of the men at the time, and the girlfriend of Raphael Rowe (one of the three) handed police a number of items Rowe had given her, which were all found to have been stolen in the robberies. Prints from Rowe's shoes were also found at one of the scenes and the girlfriend testified that Rowe had left that night and only returned in the morning wearing different jeans and shoes and carrying a Sainsbury's bag – which was the same type of which had been taken in one of the robberies. Members of the gang also admitted having stolen the car that was used in the murder only days before. Although they were reluctantly released by the Court of Appeal judges, they insisted that they were not declaring the men innocent, stating: "The case against all three appellants was formidable. The evidence against Rowe was overwhelming... For the better understanding of those who have listened to this judgment and of those who may report it hereafter this is not a finding of innocence, far from it." [172] Donald Marshall and Sandy Seale, then both 17 years old, had been walking around Wentworth Park in Sydney, Nova Scotia during the late evening with the intent to "roll a drunk" as stated at Marshall's trial. They confronted an older man they encountered in the park named Roy Ebsary. Seale was stabbed to death. Police speculated that Marshall had murdered Seale and he was convicted on the basis of witness statements. [39] [40] Several years later, a witness came forward to say he had seen another man stab Seale, and several prior witness statements pinpointing Marshall were recanted. A year after the appeal, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal declared him not guilty of the murder. In its ruling, however, the court opined that Marshall was "the author of his own misfortune", essentially blaming him for the conviction. [41] [42] [43] [44] A 1990 royal commission of inquiry criticized that finding as "a serious and fundamental error", blaming police incompetence and "systemic racism" for the conviction (Marshall is Mi’kmaq). His case led to widespread changes in Canada's evidence disclosure rules. Prosecutors had withheld exculpatory evidence from the defence in the Marshall case; the prosecution must now fully disclose to the defence any evidence it has in its possession. Ebsary was subsequently tried and convicted of manslaughter. [39] The 21-year-old Captain Green of the Worcester, an English East Indiaman, his first mate, and a gunner were executed, after their crew, ship and cargo were seized and sold, on being forced into the River Forth by weather. The whole ship's crew had been detained, and charged on an invented Murder and Piracy charges, in retaliation for a Scotch East Indiaman Annandale being seized in the Thames. Jean Calas from Toulouse was executed on March 10, 1762, for murder of his son Marc Antoine. The philosopher Voltaire, convinced of his innocence, succeeded in reopening of the case and rehabilitation of Jean in 1765.