Hard cuts to legal aid have caused our criminal justice system to decline in recent years. More people are being sent to prison who shouldn't be there, at a time when prisons are at breaking point 

We are a charity of lawyers and investigators that exists to free innocent people from prison and reunite them with their families. This Christmas, we need your help stocking our Miscarriage of Justice War Chest - the fund we use to pay for the investigation and forensic work that ultimately leads to wrongful convictions getting overturned, but which legal aid won't cover.

We're aiming to raise £5,000, but a generous private donor has agreed to match the first £2,000 we receive. In other words, if you give early the value of your donation will be doubled - so you can really make your money count in our fight for justice.

Who are we helping?

Prisoners in England and Wales who we've identified as victims of miscarriages of justice and who desperately need a legal team to investigate on their behalf. 

What does the War Chest allow us to do?

• Go after every scrap of important documentation we can track down on a case, including trying to force disclosure of police files that were not originally handed to the defence.
• Conduct proactive, boots-on-the-ground investigation such as interviewing witnesses and visiting crime scenes.
• Arrange for experts to examine or re-examine key evidence, including through fresh forensic testing.

Cases

Among our current prisoner-clients are:

The Freshwater Five

Jamie Green, Jon Beere, Dan Payne, Zoran Dresic and Scott Birtwistle are five family men whose lives have been upended by their wrongful conviction in 2011 for cocaine smuggling. 

The Centre has since blown the case made against them apart, finding evidence that police fabricated observation logs and that GPS data really showed the alleged drug pick up from a large container ship at sea simply could not have happened.

The five men are serving a total of 104 years in prison. In November 2015, during his wait for justice, Jamie sadly lost his wife Nikki to cancer. He was allowed to give the eulogy at her funeral - but only while handcuffed to a prison officer. 

"The powerful evidence we've uncovered shows beyond any doubt these men are innocent." - Emily Bolton, the Freshwater Five's lawyer

Roger Khan

Roger Khan is dyslexic, never got a formal education and had no legal training of any sort. Nevertheless, in 2011 he was allowed to defend himself against a charge of attempted murder. 

In a trial that should shame British justice, Roger was denied the chance to question two key witnesses. He was tasked with reviewing 790 hours of CCTV footage alone, from within jail, and did not get expert help to understand the highly complex forensic evidence presented against him. He was wrongly convicted and given 30 years in prison.

The Centre's investigative work has uncovered that an alternative suspect with a violent past and personal ties to police was overlooked. We have submitted dossiers of evidence in support of Roger's innocence to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, who are currently deciding whether to refer his case to the Court of Appeal.

"I don't want sympathy, I just want a chance to present the evidence." - Roger Khan

Who will be responsible for using your money to deliver justice?

Suzanne Gower 

• Suzanne is a experienced criminal defence lawyer who knows how to hold police and prosecutors to account for their mistakes. 
• Most recently, she represented 22 families of the Hillsborough disaster at the historic inquests.

Emily Bolton

• Before setting up the Centre Emily founded Innocence Project New Orleans, which to date has freed 28 innocent prisoners in the US Deep South. 
• After qualifying as a solicitor in England, she successfully overturned the conviction of a man who spent 4 years in prison for a crime he did not commit in the Centre's test case.

On behalf of the prisoners we represent and their families, thank you for your support and Merry Christmas!