THE Bishop of Stepney, Dr Joanne Grenfell, wrote to the Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, last month, calling for a review of the case of a person who protests his innocence of murder.
The man, Jason Moore, was convicted in 2013 of the murder of Robert Darby, who was stabbed to death outside an east London pub in 2005. The prosecution relied on the testimony of a single eyewitness. Mr Moore has at all times maintained that he didn’t commit the crime.
Dr Grenfell’s letter argues that the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) examined the case and opted not to place it forward for appeal, but that their evaluation of the case wrongly suggested that there had been a second witness.
It later emerged, during an investigation by a neighborhood newspaper, the Romford Recorder, that the only real witness had been drunk on the time. None the less, the CCRC declined to reopen its file on the case; so Mr Moore had to start out the method again.
In her letter, Dr Grenfell praises Ms Mahmood for searching for the removal of the chair of the CCRC, Helen Pitcher, and suggests that the case-review system must be overhauled, especially in the sunshine of the acquittal last 12 months of Andrew Malkinson, who had served 17 years in prison.
The CCRC twice didn’t review Mr Malkinson’s case, citing concerns about costs, The Guardian has reported.
“Systemic issues” with the “capability, competence, and integrity of the CCRC” justified calls for “a review of all outstanding cases that the CCRC has ignored under the previous government”, Dr Grenfell writes.
She refers back to the support of Mr Darby’s family as an additional reason that there was a compelling case for a review of Mr Moore’s conviction: “In a remarkable display of unity, each families have joined forces to attempt to quash Jason’s conviction, as they each imagine he’s innocent.”
